A Force Stronger Than an Army
by Stwolfgang 'Peas' Ambrose
Summary: 2 years have passed and the situation for the plants looks bleak. Can a small group of friends stop the advance and stay alive in the small remains of suburbia. DISCLAIMER: I don't own Plants vs Zombies, I own the plot. (Set in a more, Garden Warfare 2 universe) (Btw, this is the sequel to AFTOIL, my first story :P)
1. Chapter 1: Listen to your instincts

It had been 2 year's since the zombies turned the tide of the war in their favour. I was sitting at a table discussing the situation with a commando peashooter named Peter. Peter and I had been friends since just before the war turned on us and we had been through some of the toughest battles since the tide changed. The past 2 years we've spent slowing the zombie advance and fighting for survival, it seems our efforts have started to pay off. The zombie advance, in the sector we're operating in, has been halted, for now. With the loss of large swathes of suburbia to the zombies, it seemed the logical thing was to strike back, take back our turf from the undead invaders. Recently I have been discussing with the other plants in my team, which we named Sierra, about the possibilities of taking the offensive, taking down the zombies graveyards, and replacing them with gardens. The problem that we kept running up on, was the fact only us advanced plants could really take the fight to the zombies. Getting up, I walked to the window that overlooked the lawn that had become the home for the recruits I was responsible for training, damn my life has changed a lot. Peter came over and said.  
"You know, it's not too bad, we're all still here, me, Alison, Wulf, Elanor, Sonatra and Cole, you can count on us." I looked at Peter, the bruises he sustained in the last attack were still there. I replied.  
"I know, but it's been 2 years and I haven't honoured my promise and I'll still feel guilty over it until I fulfill that promise. I need to go back, but I can't risk all we've succeeded." I looked away from Peter and continued. "How did you do it? Back before all of this happened. How did you know what was the right thing to do back when you lead a team?" Peter patted my back and said.  
"Easy, I listened to my instincts, thats how I knew if something was right." I walked back to the table and had the rest of my glass of water and said.  
"I was never cut out to lead, why am I a leader?" Peter slammed his pod on the windowsill and said.  
"Dammit Pete, you were cut out to lead, look at what you you have managed to get done. You've managed to stop an entire zombie army with a small ragtag group of plants. Open your eyes and listen to them, you inspire them just being in their presence, the stories some of them say." He paused and let me think for a bit before he continued. "That time you jumped on a gargantuar to save that cactus, that still inspires them to stand up. Be yourself and they will follow you." When Peter finished, he walked out and headed out onto the lawn. I stayed in the room and tried listening to my instincts. It took a while, but I found out the right thing to do.

I headed out onto the lawn were some of the new recruits were showing off to each other. I hypered faster and further then the peashooter practicing it, out shot a cactus and out revived a sunflower who hadn't had much medical training. After showing up the recruits I ordered them into line, which they did rather enthusiastically. I then split them into groups, the sunflower I sent to the infirmary and told her.  
"Ask for Alison, tell her Pete asks if you'll mentor you." the sunflower went off happily. I split the 2 cacti into a group and sent them off after one of the few cacti in camp. The chomper I told to go and find Cole, so I was left with a young Toxic Peashooter and a slightly older Ice Peashooter. The Ice Pea introduced themselves first.  
"Hi, I am Josh and this is my younger brother, Colin." Josh pointed to the Toxic Pea named Colin who shyly waved. I laughed and introduced myself.  
"The names Pete, I will be your mentor while you both train then." They both smiled and Colin asked.  
"Is it true you fought a gargantuar?" I looked at the enthusiastic Toxic Pea, now I knew what Peter meant by I inspired plants. I said to Colin.  
"Yes, I fought the Gargantuar to protect a cactus." Colin and Josh had looks of astonishment on there faces, I decided to begin their tutelage straight away.

I got the two brothers to practice hypering around the lawn to try and build up their endurance and confidence initially. When the two collapsed in exhaustion, I told them.  
"That's enough, you're both really good, I doubt I could hyper that long at your age." The two brothers faces lit up in joy as they strode off inside for dinner, the sun was just setting.

I headed inside and sat next to Alison, she was still the 'hottest' sunflower in suburbia. She spoke to me as I sat down.  
"You know the peashooter brothers, Colin and Josh, they have been jumping all over the place because of you." I must have been a deep green because Alison began to giggle, she couldn't help but do that when I blushed. I replied with.  
"Well they are young and I was just trying to get their confidence and endurance up, I would be dead if it weren't for all the hypering I've been doing these past couple of years." Alison stopped giggling and said.  
"Whatever you do, don't teach them how to do the gattling thing before dinner, I don't want to be in hear cleaning up all the pea stains on the walls." I laughed and ate my dinner. I was last to leave the canteen, so when I did leave, I went on a nighttime walk.

 _A/N: Short chapter because i'm tired :P, but first chapter for the sequel of AFTOIL :)_


	2. Chapter 2: Stop getting shot

I walked across the dark lawn towards the fence, the moon reflected enough light so I could see where I was heading. I slipped through the gate and expected to be stopped by one of the mushrooms on guard duty. When I didn't hear a mushroom, I looked around, there were no guards at all. Without guards, the house that had become our base was under threat. I decided to take guard duty until either a mushroom or other plant came out to take it, or until dawn. This was going to be a long night.  
The first few hours were uneventful, I leant against the fence and watched for possible threats. Nearby was a few abandoned houses, so I was shocked to attention when I heard the sound of smashing glass in one. I went over to the house and investigated, to be further shocked. I expected a zombie and found a peashooter, they must have noticed me as I pushed a bottle off the window when I looked in. They turned, looked shocked, and hypered out the other side of the house before I could stop them. I ignored them and went back to the gate to find an Imp opening it. I shot at the Imp who didn't expect it and they were vanquished quickly.

As I headed back towards the gate, something grabbed me from behind and pulled me off the ground. They turned me to look at them and I was shocked, it was a damn zombie dressed as a human superhero. The zombie laughed and said.  
"You idiot, I thought a leader would have more brainz than that, oh wait you're a plant." The zombie laughed and turned me towards the downed Imp, who was being revived by a damn scientist. I growled deep in my throat and said.  
"You can't get them, they outnumber you four to one, they will beat you, even without me." The zombies simply laughed, including the Imp. The scientist said.  
"Zomboss may want him, but we should at least make him watch as we burn his precious friends into dust." They continued to laugh. The zombie holding me grips weakened as he laughed, I managed to push myself out of his grip and hyper back into the base. When I got there I set off the alarms and all chaos broke loose. Plants ran left and right as they prepared for the coming zombies, now was the worst time for an attack.

Alison, Peter and Wulf came up to me and asked.  
"Whats going on?" I explained how there were no guards on duty and that an Imp caught me off guard, I skipped the entire Peashooter incident, and explained that an assault was bound to happen. Peter and Wulf went off to organise some of the recruits into groups while Alison stayed and said.  
"You know, it would make my job easier if you didn't get shot up so much." I laughed and said.  
"It would make my job easier if the zombies stopped attacking us." Alison laughed and replied.  
"Then you wouldn't have a job." I smiled, if it weren't for this war, I would take Alison out to lunch. I replied.  
"Yeah. When this is all over, I'm going to take you out somewhere nice." Alison blushed and said.  
"Well you have to survive till then." She giggled and set off to help the other sunflowers. I walked towards the fence and asked myself, when are they coming.

After 15 minutes, the first browncoats advanced towards the base. The cacti on the roof began picking them off as well as a few of the recruits on the ground. I kept looking for signs of the elites, Zomboss knew we were a threat and we had to be beaten, we weren't going to let that happen. The first signs of elites presented themselves as portals opening above the battlefield, they dropped into battle now. I turned my attention up to the portals, nothing major dropped, just some pre time machine elites. I hypered up to a roof and picked them off, a couple got a few shots off before they fell, Zomboss was relying too much on inexperienced fighters.  
Just as I thought that, the same Super Brainz elite punched me from behind and grabbed me, damn he hit hard. He said.  
"I'm not letting you escape this time." He prepared to punch me again, but small specks of fire hit his arm and he dropped me. I fell back just out of the range of his fists and opened fire on him. The elite jumped behind a chimney so I dropped a chili bean bomb by him. He came out and blasted me with a laser, I fell onto my back in an attempt to dodge the laser, but the damn zombie saw and aimed down. I rolled out of the way and behind a broken air-conditioner. The entirety of my front burned in pain, that laser is dangerous. Getting up, I fired more peas at the elite zombie, which he dodged barely. The zombie prepared to fire another burst of his laser at me but a Toxic Pea got him from behind and knocked out the elite. Behind the fallen zombie was Colin who had a face of astonishment. I walked over to the young toxic peashooter and gave him my thanks. We jumped down from the roof, the battle was nearly over, the zombies were going to lose.

I found Alison helping out a wounded cactus. When she saw me, she sent the cactus to another sunflower who wasn't busy and said to me.  
"What did I say before the attack, hmmm?" I looked at her and said.  
"Not to get shot up." She glared and said.  
"So what do you do, you get fricken blasted by a laser. Do you know how hard it is to heal a wound that's barely visible?" I rubbed the bruise on the back of my head and said to her.  
"Yeah, but you're the best medic I know, you can do it." She blushed and said.  
"I think you're going to end up spending more time in the infirmary then you are going to spend fighting." She stormed off to help a couple of the injured plants by the fence, we had repelled the zombies, for now, but they would come back in force. We had to do something different.


	3. Chapter 3: The messenger

Two days after the last zombie attack and we still hadn't made an agreement over what to do. I wanted to lead a small team and take a few graveyards and replace them with gardens to confuse the zombies. Unfortunately for me, almost every single non-advanced plant was against the idea. Every meeting ended in a stalemate and I knew if we kept screwing around, Zomboss would send more and more powerful weapons and zombies to get rid of us. The latest meeting looked like it was going to end the same as the others usually did, until a strange looking Jade Cactus entered the meeting room demanding to see the leader of the group. I stood up and asked the Jade Cactus what they would like, they said.  
"Are you the leader of this group?" I looked at the Jade Cactus and said.  
"Yes, but I would like to know why you ask?" The Jade Cactus didn't seem to appreciate being spoken to like a normal plant. They continued by saying.  
"I am a messenger for L.E.A.F..." I interrupted him and said.  
"What?" The Jade Cactus was annoyed at my lack of knowledge. Being cut off from almost everything going on in suburbia for two years has meant i've missed most of the news. The Jade Cactus continued.  
"L.E.A.F is the plant organization coordinating the war effort. How you don't know about this, it's the main news around suburbia." Biting back a snark remark, I said.  
"We've been cut off from suburbia for the past two years, news has been rare and extremely varying." The Jade Cactus was unimpressed and said.  
"That's surprising, news that a group of plants in southern suburbia have been slowly turning the tide. These reports have started to show up back at the Base. So just my luck being a messenger, i'm the one picked to search out the group." The Jade Cactus really didn't like their job that much. I asked them.  
"So how does L.E.A.F affect me and my team?" The Jade Cactus just shook their head in disappointment and said with utter disbelief in their voice.  
"L.E.A.F would like to recruit your team into the war effort." I stood there, clear astonishment on my face. I went on to say.  
"My team, helping a co-ordinated war effort, I have to discuss this with my peers." The Cactus said in utter disappointment.  
"I thought you were a leader?" I looked at them and said.  
"I want to know whether this goes well with the other plants here." The Jade Cactus was unimpressed, they had to go back to L.E.A.F with an answer. The Jade Cactus said.  
"So I have to stay here till you come up with an answer? You can't just give me a yes or no right now?" I felt like slapping the Jade Cactus, he was really trying my patience. I told the Jade Cactus.  
"At the most, an hour, just let me discuss it with the other plants, I don't want to be an unfavourable leader." The Jade Cactus nodded and turned, they probably went to the canteen. As they did so, I went around and got together most of the plants, we were going to have a vote.

When most of us were crowded into the small meeting room, I began by saying.  
"I have called this emergency meeting together because, as many of you have noticed, there is a Jade Cactus that is new around here. They are a messenger for the plant organisation called L.E.A.F who are coordinating a unified war effort." There were murmurs around the room as plants discussed the latest news. I continued.  
"We have earned enough recognition to be noticed by them and we have been offered a position as a team." There was excited talking as the plants considered the possibilities of the position. I silenced the crowd and continued by saying. "I wasn't going to accept the offer until I got all of your opinions, so, say I now if you wish to join L.E.A.F." Every plant in the crowd said I. I nodded in agreement and dismissed the meeting. Alison ran up to me, hugged me and said.  
"I believe that's a yes then." I smiled and said.  
"Yes, it's the perfect opportunity to improve our chances of survival." Alison released me and started spreading the good news. The Jade Cactus approached me and said.  
"So I take that as a yes?" I smiled and said.  
"Yes, I believe we are going to be joining L.E.A.F." The Jade Cactus smiled and said.  
"I can finally get back to base. You will be properly inducted in a few days." I shook my pod with the cacti equivalent to a hand and wished them luck on their journey.

After I said goodbye to the Jade Cactus, I slipped out and went to the abandoned house the odd peashooter was investigating just before the last attack. I went inside and started looking around. I spent half an hour checking the ruins, which was proving futile, until I found a ruined blanket. I looked under the blanket and found a damaged photo. On the photo was a Gatling Pea, Ice Pea, Fire Pea and a Peashooter, all of them but the gatling pea looked really young. This must have been what the peashooter was looking for. While missing a large chunk in the corner, I still took it in case I found the strange peashooter back here. I went back to the base and prepared for the coming days.

 _A/N: A short chapter I know but I didn't want to give too much away for the coming chapters :)_


	4. Chapter 4: A gargantuan task

It took around 4 days for a message to arrive from L.E.A.F summoning me and my chosen team to their hidden Headquarters somewhere deep in suburbia. My team hadn't changed since just before the tide change, so I decided to keep it that way. My team consisted of Wulf, Alison, Peter, Cole, Elanor and myself. When I received the message from a canister dropped in through my office window, I literally jumped out the window onto the lawn expecting the canister to release a purple gas that didn't react well with plants. When it didn't, I went up to my office and opened the canister cautiously, I expected something to fire out of it. When nothing did, I was disappointed, there was only a slip of paper with an important note inside it. Alison and Wulf came rushing into my office a few seconds later, Alison asked.  
"What in the name of Dave just happened? I'm out enjoying the sun and I hear smashing glass and you flying out of your window." I laughed inside and said to the flustered Fire Sunflower in front of me.  
"You know how the foot soldier elites throw canisters of gas, well this," I held up the canister and continued, "flew in through my window. I assumed it to be a gas cannister so I jumped. The only thing in it though was a note from L.E.A.F." I held up the note, Wulf asked.  
"What's on the note?" I read it aloud.

*To Pete and his team. You are needed at L.E.A.F headquarters for evaluation and, if you pass successfully, induction into L.E.A.F. You all have 1 day to prepare,  
Crazy Dave will pick you all up tomorrow at noon. Be prepared and ready by then.*

Alison asked.  
"So, who is in your team?" I looked at her, stifled a laugh and said.  
"Don't worry, I may not like the thought of you getting hurt, but you." Alison's smile widened substantially. I continued. "Wulf, Peter, Elanor and Cole." Wulf smiled and left to get ready for the coming day. Alison hugged me and said.  
"You know what this means right?" I hugged her back and asked.  
"What Alison, what does this mean?" We stopped hugging and she said.  
"You could take me out to lunch like you promised sooner than we thought." She started giggling, I must be blushing. I told her.  
"I wish it were that easy, we have to pass that test tomorrow, plus the war won't be over in a night." Alison nodded, said goodbye and went and got ready. I stayed in my office for a few minutes and wondered, what would the test be like. Without coming to a conclusion, I joined Alison in our room and prepared a travel pack for tomorrow. I packed the essentials, water, food and a medi-pack, just incase one of the sunflowers can't get to me when i'm injured, personal experience of course.

The rest of day passed in a blur, I told Peter, Cole and Elanor to get ready and I put Felicity, one of the 4 cacti in charge during my absence. Alison, Wulf, Peter,  
Cole, Elanor and I waited out on the lawn for Crazy Dave and his flying RV. Around 5 minutes past noon, Crazy Dave arrived and picked us up. We appeared to be the only plants the humans picked up. The flight to the L.E.A.F Hq was uneventful, the only thing that really happened was Cole got motion sick. I tried to open a window for the chomper to vomit out of, but I couldn't get it open fast enough and I got covered in the chompers saliva. I went through my pack and wasted all of my water just washing the saliva off. Thankfully Dave gave me a bottle of water he kept spare in his fridge. I thanked the human and sat in a different part of the RV, my first seat was covered in Cole's saliva. After around half an hour of flying Crazy Dave landed and let us out.

L.E.A.F's base was huge, a giant metallic structure created from some of the toughest metal discovered. I'm amazed, it looked like the zombies haven't found it yet.  
I lead the team to what appeared to be a door. As I did so, a strangely feminine voice said.  
"Who is this?" I thought for a second and said into the communications device next to the door.  
"Uh, Pete." The feminine voice sounded disappointed as she said.  
"Pete who?" I shook my head and better explained myself.  
"Pete, I'm the peashooter from southern Suburbia. I'm here with my team for an evaluation by L.E.A.F." The feminine voice apoligised.  
"Sorry sir, security is a priority here." The door clicked open and we walked in. The space we entered was huge, there were plants running everywhere doing their daily duties. I was approached by a Fire Cactus who said.  
"Welcome Pete, and accomplices, please follow me, there is a lot to do." We followed the Fire Cactus to a door opposite the main front door.

We entered the room to be greeted by an Agent Pea who introduced themselves.  
"I am Jack, I run testing here at L.E.A.F." I shook pods with Jack and introduced myself and my team.  
"Well, I am Pete, this is Alison, Wulf, Peter, Cole and Elanor." Jack nodded and continued.  
"I will be testing you as a group. You have to face five waves of progressively harder zombies, pass them all without needing help outside your group, you pass."  
We all nodded. Jack led us to a chamber that was full of debris and a few collapsing buildings, he said this is were we will be tested. He wished us luck and left us in the chamber.

In the chamber, we got 2 minutes to discuss a plan before the test began. I would take a position on a roof that overlooked the entire chamber with Peter. The sunflowers would stay in a position that allowed them to fight without getting in serious danger while Cole would be on the ground getting the stray threats. Over a loudspeaker, Jack said.  
"Testing has begun."

The first 2 waves were easy, just browncoats. The next 2 waves were harder because there were elites in the groups, but they all fell as well. The fifth wave was something completely unexpected, a gargantuar as well as a horde of browncoats. I looked at Peter uneasily, this wasn't going to be easy. I dropped down to the ground and dropped a chili bean bomb into the browncoat horde. The bomb went off and sent a large number of the horde into the 'sky'. A few seconds later, I was sent flying across the chamber. The gargantuar had fired one of his kamikaze Imps at me. I heard Alison scream as I flew across the room. I landed in a garbage skip on top of a roof. I still, thankfully, had my pack with me and began to cover some of the cuts the explosion had left in the side of my stem. I made myself visible to Alison to assure her I was fine. I looked at Peter, he was rooted in place and was gatling the gargantuar, which was bending over and fired a kamikaze Imp at Peter. Peter tried unrooting but took the Imp directly. Injured, he fell off the roof and was quickly attended to by the sunflowers. I got up and hypered towards the gargantuar, Cole was in trouble. Cole was in a terrible state, the gargantuar had hit him a few times. The gargantuar was preparing to finish off Cole with its power pole, my attempts to get its attention by shooting it were proving futile. In an attempt to save my friend, I jumped on the power pole, which got the gargantuars attention. An Imp got out of the pack on the gargantuars back, it ran along the pole and started trying to push me off the pole. I shot the Imp, which knocked it out, and got up on the gargantuars arm. Using its free arm, the gargantuar tried to punch me, I easily dodged the giant fist and began putting critical hits on its head.

For the following minute, the gargantuar tried shaking me off while the Imps came out and started attacking me. Despite fighting my hardest, I had to hop off the gargantuar, the Imps didn't hit too hard, but they hit really fast and with the damage from the kamikaze Imp still stinging, I didn't want to be unrevivable. I fell back behind a wrecked car and tried healing some of the more serious wounds the Imps inflicted when a kamikaze Imp exploded just in front of me. I knew I couldn't take to much more so I hypered up to the roof and hid up there while I healed up. Half a minute later, a loud booming noise sounded out throughout the chamber.

I got up and had a look, Peter had finished off the gargantuar, with some help from the sunflowers. Over the loudspeaker, Jack spoke out.  
"Congratulations on your success. Please exit the chamber and I will meet you there." I jumped down from the roof covering a cut just below my arm with my left pod. I met the rest of the team by the door, we were all jubilant over our success. Exhausted no one spoke until the door opened and we were met by a strange sight.


	5. Chapter 5: Brotherly love

When the door to the chamber opened, we expected to see Jack, the Agent Pea. Instead, an Ice Pea stood at the door and introduced herself.  
"My name is Icee. Congratulations on passing the test, I expect results on the field from you all." We were all standing there in shock. After a few seconds I said.  
"Ah...Thank you Icee." I must have been blushing because Alison was giggling. Icee went down the hall towards the exit, but just before she disappeared, she called out.  
"Oh and Pete, Cole, Peter," When she said Peter's name she stammered a bit, as if she had heard that name before and it caused her ache. She continued. "if you need it,  
just ask for the infirmary." She then disappeared into the vast base. Jack came down the hall and said.  
"You are a maniac. Jumping on a gargantuar, that was a show I won't soon forget." I smiled slightly and asked Jack.  
"So what now, I believe that test wasn't the only reason we came here?" Jack nodded and said.  
"Yes, in about an hour, you and your group will be needed to be properly integrated into L.E.A.F. I recommend you all head to the infirmary and wait there for a messenger." I nodded and Jack led us to the infirmary where we waited for the messenger, and got medical attention from the sunflowers there.

After an hour or so, the Fire Cactus who directed us earlier today, came and got us. The cactus led us to a meeting room were Icee, Jack and a couple of other plants were sitting. The fire cactus pointed us in and left to do their other duties. I walked in with the rest of the team and Icee told us to take a seat. When we all had taken a seat, Jack began by saying.  
"This team, I believe, should be apart of what we're doing, they performed well and deserve the chance to prove themselves in a true battle. Just look at the tape."  
Icee nodded and said.  
"I agree, they went above and beyond what we ask for when recruiting teams." A Citrus Cactus spoke next.  
"I have to go with Jack and Icee, we need all the help we can get." The final plant, a Camo Cactus said.  
"Well, I trust that we are making the right decision by allowing this team to join our ranks." I sat there and pondered the thought, what's going to happen now. Icee spoke next.  
"Well then, welcome to L.E.A.F. We need to know your teams name and then Crazy Dave will take you all back to base." We looked each other and considered a name. Wulf suggested Sierra, so we stuck with it and I said.  
"Sierra, that is the name of our team." Jack smiled and said.  
"Well then, Team Sierra, diffrent but I like it. You are going to be a Beta team." Icee took over from Jack and continued.  
"If you can all prove yourselves capable, you will be promoted to a Delta team, every rank higher your team becomes, the harder the assignments you will receive."  
When Icee finished the Camo Cactus continued Icee's sentence.  
"And finally, if you all prove capable, you will be promoted to an alpha team. These teams are the highest ranked and go on the hardest missions." When the Camo Cactus finished, I said.  
"On behalf of all of us, I thank you for providing us, this opportunity." With that, the Fire Cactus from before was called in to escort us to Crazy Daves RV.

In the RV we discussed what the first mission could be, and we kept a window open, in case Cole got motion sick again. The flight home proved to be uneventful, a few close calls with birds, but apart from that, we got back to base in one piece, to find it in pieces. The base was a burning mess, zombie corpses littered the lawn, but so did plants. The zombies took advantage of the fact that none of us were there, the best fighters and medics in our group had been gone and the zombies took advantage of it. I hypered through the ruins of the base looking for survivors, none of which I found, every plant here had either fled if the could or fell to the zombies. Just when I gave up searching, I heard someone crying coming from a room at the end of the hall. I opened the door to find a collapsed Ice Peashooter on the floor and a Toxic Peashooter crying in the corner, It was Colin and I realized that Colin's older brother, Josh the Ice Peashooter, was lying on the floor unconscious.  
I went over, grabbed Colin and his brother and dragged them out to the lawn were I asked Alison to stay if in case I found survivors. I asked Alison.  
"Can you try and revive his brother." Alison nodded and tried, unfortunately, no matter what Alison tried, she couldn't revive the downed Ice Peashooter. Colin cried out in anguish as he realized he would never speak to his brother ever again.

When the fire burnt itself out, I called together the plants remaining to an emergency meeting. We had gone down from around 30 plants before joining L.E.A.F to just 7 plants, myself, Alison, Wulf, Peter, Cole, Elanor and Colin. We discussed what we were going to do, there was simply to few of us to hold the base. Elanor was first to have an idea.  
"We need to leave this specific building and use one nearby, that way the zombies think we're gone, but L.E.A.F can find us. After the first mission, we discuss a possible relocation." Since nobody else gave an idea, we went with Elanor's, we were going to relocate to another abandoned house nearby.

It took the next 3 hours to properly relocate, but when we did, we headed back and began burying some of the dead plants. It was a mentally destroying activity, the large loss of around 23 plants was demoralizing. After an hour, we had finished burying the dead, we wandered back to the new base, hearts heavy with sorrow, tonight would be a night of mourning, especially for Colin.

 _A/N: Thanks to ThePeawithGoggles who has helped a lot with characters etc. You should check out her stories :D_


	6. Chapter 6: Gnomes and Coffee

After three days of avoiding zombie patrols, we spotted Crazy Dave's flying RV. In an attempt to signal the human, I got Cole to use a red smoke canister to signal our position to them. When Crazy Dave landed his RV near the house we were using for a base, we grabbed as much of what we had left and hopped in. When we were in, Dave asked who the small Toxic Peashooter was. Since Colin didn't want to talk, I told Dave what happened to the poor Toxic Peashooter next to me. Dave acknowledged that Colin didn't want to talk and began focussing on flying the RV. Crazy Dave landed us in a field and gave me a folder, he said goodbye and flew off with Colin.

In the folder was a red smoke canister, I guess so Dave can find us when we need to be picked up, a few coffee bean containers, which excelled at reviving downed plants, a bomb strapped to a gnome, and a map that had a brief on it. According to the brief, our goal was to take out a zombie graveyard with the gnome bomb, and prevent the zombies defusing or capturing the bomb. The map pointed out the routes that we could take to get to the target graveyard and marked the places of potential zombie defenders. When Alison came over to investigate the folder, it looked like she had just seen a ghost. With extreme excitement in her voice she said.  
"Are those actual coffee bean containers? Oh my Dave, those things are so rare. Where did you get these?" I looked at her and shrugged. I simply said.  
"In this folder, I think we should save these, who knows when we'll need them." I placed the folder in my battle pack just as the other plants in the team came over to investigate Alison's excitement. Elanor asked what Alison was so excited about, and almost had the same reaction as Alison when she found out about the coffee beans. Cole was first to ask about our mission.  
"So, what are we doing here?" I looked at Cole and said.  
"We are here to takedown a zombie graveyard." Wulf was next to ask a question.  
"And how do we do that?" I picked up and showed off the gnome bomb and said.  
"With this gnome bomb. We simply arm it on the graveyard, stop the zombies defusing it or capturing it, and make sure the graveyard is destroyed." I rolled out the map and pointed out our possible attack routes and possible locations of the defenders. We settled on the attack route that out flanked most of the defenders and made them easy targets. With that settled we set out after the graveyard.

It took around half an hour to reach the alley that lead to the square where the graveyard sat. At one end of the square was a giant church that a camo ranger was camping in. The square was surrounded by 3 story high stores and houses that have been long since abandoned. There weren't many zombie defenders it seemed, the camo ranger in the church, an engineer in an old store and a few scientists in another house. It seemed though the engineer had been building rocket turrets to protect the straightforward approaches, lucky we were all experienced enough to know the dangers of taking the direct route. We decided it would be too dangerous to cross the open ground of the square, so we snuck into a nearby house and made our way around the square through the abandoned houses.

It took 10 minutes to sneak around the square and get right next to the church. The front door was guarded by a level 2 zombot machine gun turret, so charging the front was suicide. Without a clear way in, Cole burrowed in and sneakily chomped the camo ranger. With the camo ranger down, we could move a bit more freely, but the turrets really did hamper our movements. We took down the turrets causing us problems out the front of the church, this unfortunately got the attention of the engineer who came to investigate the noise. When they saw their turrets destroyed, they grabbed their concrete launcher and moved around the side of the church cautiously.  
With the engineer busy, I gave Peter the gnome bomb and told him to plant it while I dealt to the scientist.

I hypered over to the house the scientist were in, they were experimenting with a mix of heal stations, gas canisters and sticky explody balls. I dropped a chili bean bomb into the room and took out 2 of the 5 scientists. The sound of a mass warp sped up my heart beat, I knew I was screwed if they all shot me at the same time.  
In an attempt to get somewhere somewhat safe, I jumped into the house the scientist were just in. I felt something round and sticky get stuck to my stem. A couple of seconds later, a massive surge of pain ran through my stem as an explosion blew me onto my side. Groaning, I sat up and watched the scientist start to close the gap.  
Before they opened fire, I took down one and injured the other so severely they fell back, unfortunately for me, the other opened fire at near point blank range. The shotgun blast knocked what little breath I had out of me, in retaliation, I fired a quick riposte of peas at the scientist, knocking them out. The other scientist I could worry about later, I stepped out of the store to find the third scientist laying on the ground covered in burn marks. Alison had fired at the scientist and finished them off. I hobbled over to Alison covering the massive burn mark on the right side of my stem that was left by the sticky explody ball. Alison cracked me on the back of the head and complained.  
"I feel like the only reason you like me is because I'm willing to heal you." I laughed and said.  
"No, I like you cause you're not afraid to be yourself." Just as she prepared to check the burn mark, an explosion blew me onto my back and Alison onto her side.  
I heard Peter open fire and the sound of a vanquished zombie pierce the air. Alison got up and came over to me, I felt like a fly could knock me out. Sitting up,  
Alison started patching up some of the really serious wounds while Peter said.  
"Ok, the bombs armed, we have to guard it for about 45 seconds, we shouldn't have a problem."

I spent the 45 seconds on the ground, Alison refused to let me get up and I hated to admit that I did feel better after being confined to the ground while Alison and Elanor patched me up. After the bomb went off, Wulf asked.  
"So how do we get back home?" I sat up despite the Alison's protests and reached into my battle pack. I pulled out a red smoke canister, threw it to Wulf and said.  
"That's how, when you see Crazy Dave's RV, deploy the smoke and he will pick us up.

It was around an hour after the bomb went off that Crazy Dave's RV was spotted and the red smoke canister was dropped. When we were picked up, Colin was sitting up the front with Crazy Dave and he said.  
"Wow, Pete you look like you were run over." I simply laughed at his description of me, I needed to stop getting so badly injured. I got Crazy Dave to drop us off at the L.E.A.F Hq, I needed to speak with one of the many leaders.


	7. Chapter 7: The Recruits

I walked up to the front doors of the giant L.E.A.F base and the same feminine voice from when I first visited the HQ asked.  
"Who is it?" I spoke straight into the communication device next to the door.  
"Commander Pete of Team Sierra. I need to see Icee or Jack." The door clicked and the feminine voice spoke out.  
"Welcome back commander. Icee is busy in a meeting, but you will find Jack in the training center" I opened the door and signaled everyone else, including Colin,  
inside. Colin was in awe at the size of the base while the Fire Cactus that had escorted us earlier that week came up and asked.  
"Commander Pete, to what do I owe the pleasure?" I looked at the Fire Cactus and said.  
"I need to see Jack." The fire Cactus frowned and said rather unhappily.  
"Follow me this way please." We followed the Fire Cactus into the training part of the base were he left to perform his other duties. We walked around while we waited for Jack, who showed up 2 minutes later. Jack smiled and asked.  
"We're back rather fast, how was the first mission?" I simply said.  
"Good, and a success, the zombies never saw it coming." Jack nodded and said.  
"Good, good. Now I have a feeling you aren't here about the last mission?" I nodded and said.  
"Yeah, in our absence as we were tested, our base was overrun and Colin here," I pointed to Colin, "was the only survivor. I need more plants to fortify my position."  
Jack simply nodded as he thought about my request. When he did reply, it was news I wanted to hear.  
"Look, I need to train a group of recruits but I don't the time, space and staff to do so. If I transfer them under your command, you will be responsible for their training, but they will take orders from you." I thought about it for a minute and said.  
"I can do that, I need the numbers, they need the training, fair deal." I shook pods with Jack and thanked him. He asked us to give him half an hour to get the recruits together and then we could leave.

Around 45 minutes later, Jack came back with the recruits. A Peashooter, Law Pea and a Fire Pea, a Toxic Chomper, a Shadow Flower and a Power Cactus. I introduced myself.  
"I am commander Pete, I will be in charge of your training while you are under my command." While most of the recruits looked bored, the Peashooter stood there in shock, it took a while but they eventually spoke.  
"Pete, is it true you took on a gargantuar single handedly?" The Law Pea behind him laughed and said.  
"I don't think our commander's that idiotic." I simply laughed and said.  
"You know, that means you just called your superior an idiot Law Pea." Alison giggled as the Law Pea blushed. To avoid making an enemy out of them I joked. "I don't care, I did take on a gargantuar single handedly to save a cactus from an unfortunate end though." The recruits looked at me in awe, the funny thing was, I was probably younger than a few of them. Wulf was next to speak.  
"I think it's time we went, Crazy Dave is waiting for us." I nodded and thanked Jack for his help. Me and my team, with Colin and the recruits headed out to Crazy Dave's Flying RV. When we all got in, Crazy Dave set out for southern suburbia.

20 minutes later and we were back outside the ruined base which would be our home, base and training ground for as long as we could hold it. We spent the next day cleaning up the place and preparing it for use. When it was ready to go, I began by gathering everyone together on the lawn. I got the plants, both my team and the recruits, to stand in their respective plant groups, so Peashooters in one group, sunflowers in another etc. When they did so, I began by designating leaders for the groups. Peter was to lead the peashooters, Cole the chompers, Elanor the sunflowers and Alison would be my communications assistant. With only one Cactus, I let them take orders direct from me. With that settled, each group leader was responsible for training the recruits, I would try to help the power cactus as best as I could.

The next few days were uneventful, I helped the cactus and the peashooters in their training, Alison and Elanor trained the Shadow Flower in basic medical skills while Cole helped the Toxic Chomper. I was shocked when another message canister came flying through my office window, I should really keep it opened. We had been assigned another demolition mission.

When we were all gathered together, I gave the recruits the job of holding back a zombie attack on the base while we were gone. I put Elanor in charge while the rest of us were gone on the mission. I worried about leaving recruits to defend the base, but it was important that I went on the mission. It was going to be a long night.

 _A/N: A really short filler chapter, here because it sought of has to be, but I didn't want to make a super long chapter, so I made a short one :/_


	8. Chapter 8: An unnecessary loss

I spent the most of the night thinking about the consequences if the base fell again and the recruits, now including Colin, died, I shuddered at the thought. I only got 4 hours of sleep that night and I felt drained. Elanor must have noticed when I went and got breakfast and she said.  
"You know, it might be best if you stay here and get some sleep, I can go in your place." I smiled at her and said.  
"Thanks for the offer but I feel fine, you just stay here and make sure this place stays in one piece." She nodded and I ate my breakfast in peace.

I waited out on the lawn for Crazy Dave with the rest of the team, Alison, Wulf, Peter and Cole. Around noon, Dave picked us up in his flying RV and took us to an abandoned shopping center and landed in the parking lot. Surprisingly the shopping center wasn't as abandoned as we thought and a single foot soldier fired on us as we quickly left the RV. Once we were out, Dave quickly flew off. Wulf quickly vanquished the foot soldier as I went through my pack and found the folder Dave gave me before we left. I pulled out the folder that contained most of the things we needed to carry out the mission. We had been given 2 gnome bombs, a map, and a red smoke canister. The map pointed out the two graveyards that we had been assigned to destroy and the location of some of the defences. I placed everything but the map back in my back and discussed a plan with the team. We decided that the straightforward route would be suicidal, but almost every other possible route was covered, the zombies were getting better at defence and it was worrying. We took a side route to the first garden and assessed the defences the zombies had placed. A few rocket and machine gun turrets, but the biggest threat was a Z-Mech being repaired, it's Imp driver nearby and ready to use it. We looked at eachother worryingly and considered how we were going to take out the Z-Mech. Without coming to a clear conclusion, we decided to tackle the problems as they came up.

I hypered onto a roof that overlooked the entire square with Peter and Wulf, and picked off the zombies in the structures. Yelling broke out across the square and a massive barrage of cannon fire broke out through one of the collapsing houses. Alison and Cole jumped into one of the abandoned houses as the Z-Mech with its crazed Imp driver, walked out into the square. Just after it stepped out of the square, the Z-Mech fired a barrage of missiles at me, Peter and Wulf. All three of us dodged the rockets and spread out, we were too vulnerable close together. The Imp opened fire on us individually with the Z-Mech's cannon. Even without hyper all three of us dodged the cannons shots. The Imp was getting frustrated and started moving its Z-Mech towards the graveyard so we couldn't get close to it without being threatened by the Mech. As I continued to dodge the cannon shots, I noticed Alison point out Cole, who was sneaking up on the Z-Mech. To make sure Cole could get there without being spotted, I jumped down from the roof and hypered towards the Z-Mech. The Imp smiled deviously as it fired another barrage of missiles at me. I dodged most of the missiles, thankfully they weren't as powerful as a normal ZPG. Just as I got in range of the Z-Mech's fists, I jumped over the Mech and graveyard while Cole got on the Mech and chomped the Imp inside before it could react. I was about to plant the Gnome Bomb when the Mech exploded and destroyed the Graveyard. Cole walked away unscathed while Alison, Wulf and Peter came over.

When we regrouped next to the ruins of the destroyed graveyard, we set off after the next graveyard. It took 10 minutes to get there and 5 minutes to defeat the defenders and destroy the graveyard. The process was sped up by the fact there wasn't a Z-Mech to deal with and the defenders were caught completely off guard. It took about 20 minutes before we spotted Crazy Dave's flying RV, when we did, we threw down the red smoke canister and waited for Dave to land. When he did, we got in and Dave flew us back to our base in southern suburbia. It took around 10 minutes, and the flight was uneventful, it was when we landed that things didn't seem right.

We got out of Dave's flying RV to find that the base hadn't been overrun, but it looked like most of the recruits took a rocket to the face. When I asked where Elanor was, the Law Pea said rather sadly.  
"She's...I can't believe it. She, she jumped in front of a ZPG to save me, and Bella, the Shadow Flower couldn't revive her in time." My expression dropped in shock.  
Alison started crying and everyone else stood around awkwardly. We stood there for half a minute in awkward silence, I was the first to break it.  
"I know where we should bury her." Alison stopped crying while Peter asked.  
"Where do you plan on burying her?" I nodded to myself, I knew that she would want this to happen.  
"We bury her with Ash." Wulf shook his head and said.  
"That tree is so deep in Zomburbia, it's a damn suicide mission." I shook my head and said.  
"It's what she would have wanted! I'm willing to risk it, I'm sure that there is bound to be a portal somewhere." Wulf gave up, he knew it was futile to argue with me.

The rest of the day I spent preparing to go on the trip to take Elanor's corpse to the burial place of the Power Chomper Ash she probably loved.

 _A/N: Sorry for churning out just short chapters as of late, they're either short or Super Long XD_


	9. Chapter 9: A fitting epitaph

It had been an hour since Crazy Dave had dropped us off back at base and I was already preparing to leave again. I packed the essentials for the long trip, food,  
water, a medkit and a coffee bean container, I might need it. When I had finished packing, I headed out of the room I shared with Alison and looked for Peter. When I found Peter in the canteen, I sat next to him and asked him.  
"Hey, Peter. I need to ask you for a favour." The commando peashooter put down his food and asked.  
"Uh...yeah. What do you need?" I thought about my request again before asking. I ended up saying.  
"I need you to stop Alison coming after me." Peter gave me a strange look, but I continued. "And I need you to make sure this place doesn't get overrun and that the missions you receive while I'm gone are successful." Peter shook his head and said.  
"The answer is no, until I know where you're going and how long you will be gone." I sighed, why was life so difficult. I ended up saying with deep sorrow in my voice.  
"To visit an old friend. I don't know how long I will be gone either." Peter must have known what I meant and immediately said.  
"NO! Alison will kill us until she knows where you went." I sighed again, knowing how protective she was, that was bound to happen. I decided that it was a waste of time trying to get Peter, Cole or Wulf to hold back Alison, she wouldn't stop for anyone or anything to kill me for leaving her. I simply told Peter.  
"You're in charge while i'm gone and until I come back. Please don't let me down." With that I got up and set out to find Alison.

I found Alison in the infirmary teaching Bella, the Shadow Flower, some more advanced medical skills. I went across the rather small infirmary and asked Alison.  
"You don't mind Peter being in charge for a few days while I'm gone." She stuck me with a piercing look that clearly said she disagreed. Alison replied by saying.  
"Where are you going. Oh...and don't say somewhere dangerous." I smiled and said.  
"I need to go to L.E.A.F to do some stuff." Alison was clearly unimpressed, but she didn't question my statement, which made me a bit happier. Alison said goodbye and went back to teaching Bella.

I went on to tell Wulf and Cole what my plan was and they simply nodded. It wasn't until around midnight I set off for L.E.A.F. While being more dangerous, I was able to sneak out of our base undetected with my travel pack and Elanor's corpse. It took me the rest of that night and half of the following day to reach L.E.A.F. When I got there, I was tired, hungry and short tempered. I walked up to the front door and spoke into the communications device before the feminine voice spoke out first.  
"Commander Pete, I need some assistance." The door clicked and the feminine voice spoke out.  
"Welcome back commander Pete." I walked into the lobby with Elanor the Metal Petal over my shoulder. The collective gasps of plants throughout the large lobby was awesome. The lack of food and sleep had taken it's toll, plus with carrying Elanor the whole way here, I fell forward and caught myself with my free pod. A couple of guards ran up and asked.  
"What is the meaning of this?" I looked up at the guards and said.  
"Yesterday, I got back to base to find my friend here dead. I need a Portal to fulfill her final wish." The guards looked at each other with looks of confusion. One Of them took Elanor from me and asked me to follow them. It took two minutes to reach a portal which was one of the most heavily guarded areas of L.E.A.F. The portal operator, a rather eccentric looking Cactus, asked what was going on. So I explained to them what I explained to the guard. When they nodded, they asked.  
"So where to?" I told them the coordinates of the tree and they put it into the machine. When the portal opened up, the guard gave me Elanor while the portal operator gave me a strange looking canister. They said.  
"Once you finish, open this canister, it will open a portal back here, but it only lasts 15 seconds, so be fast." I thanked the two plants and stepped through the portal.

When I went through, the portal behind me disappeared and I was in the destroyed infirmary from over two years ago. The signs of a battle long since past haunted the ruins, the screams of the vanquished still prevalent. I quickly left the collapsing structure to find the tree still standing. I smiled, the signs that the zombies had tried to cut down the tree were visible, but it seems that after Ash's burial under the tree, the tree had gained the chompers strength. I grabbed a broken shovel that had been left leaning against the tree, it was the same as it had been over two years ago. When I finished burying Elanor next to Ash, I pulled a knife out of my pack and carved into the tree.

 _*Here lies two brave plants. Ash the Power Chomper who gave their life to protect an infirmary and Elanor the Metal Petal who gave her life to protect the unready._  
 _May these two plants go down in history for their sacrifice.*_

When I finished carving the epitaph into the tree, I went for a walk and thought about all that had happened over the past two years. I was snapped out of my thoughts rather violently. A fist to the side of the head and a quick kick into a wall and I immediately lost everything I was thinking about and got into a battle stance. A malicious voice spoke out.  
"What a shame you're about to join your friends over there." The sarcasm was obvious while the zombie laughed. It continued. "Do you really think you can beat me? I beg you to try." The zombie came out from hiding and made themselves visible, it was a damn Super Brainz elite. I retorted by saying.  
"I'm not going to try because I know i will beat you." I gave the zombie a grin as it charged at me. I easily dodged the attack by jumping over the zombie. I landed on its back and point blank shot it in the back of the head. The zombie reacted faster than I thought and the grabbed me. They proceeded to slam me into a wall and punch me in the head a couple of times. Groaning, I shot at the zombie who proceeded to drop me. Falling on my side the zombie taunted.  
"You most definitely, won't be missed." The zombie formed a plasma ball in its hand and went to throw it at me. I closed my eyes and prepared for the blow which never came. A few seconds later the ground shook and a peashooter stood nearby, they must have shot the zombie and finished them off. I was about to call out to the peashooter, but they hypered away. I sat up and thought to myself, what was that all about.

 _A/N: Rather bad thing to have to do after just burying a friend and visiting one after 2 years..._


	10. Chapter 10: That hollow feeling

I got up and looked at the downed zombie, what had I done? I gave up, I had closed my eyes and waited for the zombie to finish me, when did I start giving up? I tried to push it out of my head by thinking about the peashooter that saved my life, why did they hyper away after vanquishing the Super Brainz elite? I had to many questions and so little time. I went through my pack and grabbed the canister that contained a temporary portal that would take me back to the L.E.A.F base. I knew that deploying it on the ground would be a major mistake, a zombie could sneak through behind me, so I hypered onto the roof of the collapsing base and opened the canister. A purple portal opened up and I walked through it.

When I was through, the portal I just walked through closed and the eccentric cactus that operated the portal came up to me and said.  
"So, how did it go?" It took them a couple of seconds to realize I was covered in bruises and had a black eye but when they did, they gasped. Before they could talk I said.  
"Don't worry about it, just a...minor run in. Thank you, it went well." When I finished my sentence, I walked out of the giant base and made my way towards southern suburbia and the base my team operated out of. Just as it began to get dark, I went into an abandoned house and pulled out some food from my pack, it was the first food I had eaten in 2 days. I also drank half of the water in my bottle and left it in the structure, I wouldn't need it and perhaps some wandering plant would need it.  
When I finished eating, I continued on my journey home. Around midnight I caught sight of the base, I sped up and I was going to hyper the last 50 meters, but I walked into something. Whatever I walked into must have been as confused as me because we looked at each other with confused looks on our faces. The 'thing' I walked into turned out to be a zombie, when they got a proper look at me, their expression changed from confusion to terror. They got up and ran away, something I didn't expect.  
I shrugged it off and continued home, I could worry about that later, I had to worry about my life when Alison saw the bruises and my damn black eye.

I got inside and I decided I would sleep in my office so Alison didn't get up in the morning and have a heart attack. The following morning, I woke up to an infuriated Alison sitting opposite the chair I was sleeping in. When she saw I was awake, she nearly yelled at me.  
"I thought you said you were going to L.E.A.F." I knew I couldn't lie my way out of this one, especial with Elanor's corpse now buried with Ash's. I just said to her.  
"I went to L.E.A.F, to use the portal there to bury Elanor with Ash." Alison frowned, she must have known I was just trying to do the right thing. She replied with.  
"Why did you go without us?" I looked down and said.  
"I don't know, it was a risk I wasn't willing to take." Alison told me to look at her, so I did. She saw the bruises and my black eye and scowled.  
"Why, for once, can you not get hurt." She walked out and left me in my office. I sat there while I thought about the last few days. The zombie that ran away, the peashooter that saved my life, and the Super Brainz elite that I let nearly take my life.

After an hour of being deep in thought, a loud explosion rocked the side of the structure. I got up and went to the window, the zombies had begun another assault.  
The base withstood the pounding of 20+ ZPG's slamming into it while everyone else had started to gather outside to hold back the zombie horde. To save time, I jumped through the window and onto the lawn, we were vastly out numbered. The Power Cactus, named Eva, was on the roof and was picking off browncoats, the peashooters had gone up onto the roofs of nearby houses while Alison and Bella, the sunflowers, were in an abandoned house. The chompers, Cole and the toxic chomper, Jared, were on the ground harassing the horde. I hypered up to the horde and dropped a chili bean bomb into the horde. I managed to get around 13 browncoats and an unaware all-star.  
The recruit peashooters did the same and dropped chili bean bombs into the horde. 20 minute later and almost all the browncoats were down, and the elites in the horde were also, probably, beginning to give in. I spotted a scientist going around the side of the base so I hypered after them. When I was close enough, I jumped at them,  
they had reacted really well because they turned around and, using their shotgun's butt, knocked me onto the ground. They aimed the shotgun at my head and I must have looked terrified because there was nothing I could do. The scientist and I looked at each other for half a minute, at the end of which, the scientist stopped aiming at me and warped away.

I sat up to the noise of cheers, I went around to the front to find that the zombies were retreating. I wanted to cheer, we had come out of the battle virtually unscathed, but I felt hollow inside. I snuck inside and went into the room I shared with Alison, and went to sleep. The dreams I ended up having, were haunting.


	11. Chapter 11: The dream

I felt awake, even though I knew I was asleep. I had no idea where I was, it had to be of zombie origin though. It was a large, dark room filled with Z-tech, but none of the new stuff Zomboss fielded, it was all pre-time machine technology. I looked around at the frozen scene, a chomper was trapped in the fist of a Zombot controlled by Zomboss himself. When I saw Zomboss, I felt revolted, he's the reason a lot of good plants have died. I continued to look around the scene, A Mystic Flower, Cactus and Toxic Peashooter were tied up. I looked back at the Zombot, a peashooter stood on the arm that held the chomper. I then looked at Zomboss, he was talking to the peashooter. A purple laser would have been moving towards the peashooter's back if the scene weren't frozen, it looked like it came from a familiar looking scientist. I got up and moved around, the frozen scene must have had some importance, but I couldn't come to a conclusion, there just wasn't a clue to be seen anywhere. Suddenly I was being dragged backwards to a more familiar scene. While still being frozen, I immediately knew what was going to happen, I walked towards the battle between the beaten plants and the confident zombies. I walked past an unscathed tree and it felt like being hit with a ZPG, I saw Ash short circuiting a Z-Mech by electrocuting it from behind. I saw myself taking the cowardly route and jumping behind cover, I should have fought, I shouldn't have let Ash sacrifice himself. I was, once again,  
being dragged from behind to another scene. This time, everything else was moving, but this appeared to have neither happened nor did it look like something that was going to happen. The scientist that could have killed me sat in a chair opposite the place I was standing and said.  
"Zomboss has plans that can end all of this, but it's going to end..."

Before I knew it, I was awake, Alison shaking my body and saying.  
"PETE! Wake up please." I groaned and sat up, Alison let out a sigh of relief. I asked her.  
"What happened?" Alison looked upset when I said that. She replied with.  
"You were...thrashing in your sleep, were you having a nightmare?" I shook my head and and said.  
"No, I don't think so. I just...had a bad dream." She sounded unimpressed. She showed me a needle and said.  
"This was sticking out of your stem, I think this had something to do with the dream." I nodded and asked her.  
"Did you see who put this in me?" She shook her head and walked out with the needle. I got out of bed and walked into the canteen to find a lack of food. It seemed someone had left the food in the oven too long because it looked like there was a fire in the oven. I got a bottle of water out of the fridge and poured it on the burnt food, thankfully putting the fire out. With a rumbling gut, I got the leftovers from last night and ate it cold.

An hour after Alison woke me up, she came into my office where I went after I finished eating. Alison bought in the needle and said.  
"I need to know what you saw, this purple goop is of zombie origin." I frowned, that made sense, the scientist had tried to send me a message. I told her everything I saw. From the 4 trapped plants and Zomboss, to my cowardice and Ash. When I mentioned the scientist though, she was immediately concerned and said.  
"That scientist could be leading you into a trap you know." I hesitated before I continued. "Look, the day after I buried Elanor, I was still on my way here when I ran into that scientist. We looked at each other in confusion, until the scientist realized I was a peashooter. Their expression changed from confusion to terror and they ran away. Yesterday, they were sneaking around the side of the base, so I went after them. They beat me down onto the ground and they could have finished me off, but we looked at each other, I was terrified. For half a minute we looked at each other and then the scientist stopped aiming at my head and warped away." Alison looked like she had seen a ghost. She walked away muttering to herself. I shook my head, the scientist tried to say something, what was Zomboss going to end.

I sat in my office and thought over what all this mean't. The sound of a warping scientist gave me a heart attack, I looked up at the scientist who dropped a note and syringe on my desk before warping out again. On the note it said.

*Take this before you sleep, it will explain everything.*

I put the syringe and note into one of the draws just in the nick of time, Wulf came barging into my office and said.  
"Where is it?" He looked around the room and his expression changed from determination to shock. "Where...where is it?" I gave him an amused look and said.  
"What are you looking for?" Wulf stammered and gave up, he walked out with a look of utter disappointment on his face. I laughed as he walked out and began thinking to myself. What is that scientist trying to do.


	12. Chapter 12: Do you fear pain?

Before heading to bed, I went into my office and grabbed the syringe, Alison walked in before I could inject myself and she nearly screamed at me.  
"Don't you dare, put that into you." She came over and grabbed the syringe off of me. I asked Alison.  
"Can you please give me that syringe back." Alison shook her head and said.  
"Not until you tell me where you got this." From that sentence, I was never getting it back. I told her anyway.  
"Look, an unarmed scientist warped in here with the syringe and a note." She looked unimpressed and said.  
"You can't trust them, this could be a poison for all we know." I looked at her with an annoyed looked and said.  
"Well we'll never know until we try." I took the syringe off her and before she could stop me, I inserted it into my stem. I put all the liquid in the syringe into me and I felt a cold sensation crawling up my body. I began to feel distant but I heard Alison saying.  
"Pete, if this doesn't kill you. I will." Before I could reply, I blacked out.

I sat up and saw a chair across the bland white room I was in. I stood up and walked over to the seat, which turned around to reveal a scientist who began to speak.  
"Look, Zomboss has a plan to properly end this war. He plans on recon..." Before he could finish, I was being dragged away, despite my attempts to fight off whatever was pulling me away, I just couldn't resist. Before I knew it, I was back in my body, on the floor of my office with a terrified looking Alison, Wulf and Peter leaning over me. I sat up and asked what happened. Alison was crying and said.  
"You idiot, I thought you were dieing, and...and I couldn't do anything." Wulf had an expression of relief on his face and he said.  
"You were freaking out, like, something was trying to get out of you." I frowned, I knew that if I had been out for just a bit longer, I could have found out what Zomboss was up to. Instead of getting mad I said.  
"Well I was fine." The other plants around me looked unimpressed, I continued by saying. "And while I was out, I had a sort of...vision I guess. Zomboss is planning something that is going to end this war." None of the other plants looked impressed, they must have thought I was crazy. I pushed them aside and got up, I headed into the canteen, I needed a drink.

I sat at one of the tables in the canteen as I drank a glass of water. Alison came in and stuck me with the death glare, she sat across from me and said.  
"You know, you may think that you're helping plants, trying to take the pain instead of them, but you cause me pain. Every time you're injured, I get worried, I worry that you're going to break your promise to me." I looked down, I knew how much that promise meant to her. I replied with.  
"I don't try to hurt you on purpose you know. I just...body block because, my life isn't as important as everyone else's." Alison's expression changed from anger to sympathy. She said.  
"No Pete, it's more important. It's those feats of bravery that inspire the plants that follow you. Plus your life is important to me." I got up and sat next to her.  
Before I knew it, we were hugging each other in silence. After a minute, we stopped hugging. Alison told me not to be long, and she went to bed. I spent a couple more minutes in the canteen thinking to myself before I headed up to bed. My sleep was uneventful thankfully, it was my first proper sleep in six days.

I woke to the noise of a pea gatling firing. Getting up, I went down onto the lawn to find the Peashooter, whose name was Alex, practicing his gatling ability on a few cutouts of zombies. I rooted down next to him and showed him that firing in bursts was more accurate than firing in one long, continuous burst. When we both unrooted, Alex asked.  
"How do you have the courage to take on a gargantuar? I can barely take on a single All-Star." Alex looked down and I said.  
"I have plants to protect, that's what fuels my courage, the fear of my friends being hurt." Alex nodded, he smiled and said.  
"Do you fear pain or death?" I looked at the peashooter standing opposite me and said.  
"Not really. Don't tell Alison I said this but, I fear her more than anything." Alex laughed and told me to turn around. I did so to find a giggling Alison, I must have been blushing, hard. Alison said jokingly.  
"Now that hurts." I laughed and said.  
"You know I was joking, right?" Alison turned and went inside, laughing as she did so. Before following her inside, Alex asked.  
"I know this may seem personal but, how old are you." I gave him a questioning look and said.  
"17. Why do you ask?" Alex's expression changed to shock. Alex walked off with a confused look on his face. I didn't bother following him, he would be fine. I headed inside and had breakfast with Alison. Just after breakfast, I went up to my office to find a canister sitting on the floor, I went up and opened it.


	13. Chapter 13: A ghost from the past?

I opened the canister to be engulfed in a purple gas cloud. Despite my best attempts to resist the urge to cough and gag, I couldn't help it, it felt like the gas was eating it's way through me. My coughing had alerted something because I was being dragged out of the gas. The gas dissipated faster than any other gas clouds before it, but it definitely hurt more. I looked up to find a sight I did not want to see, a foot soldier aiming its gun at me. Before the foot soldier could react, I took its gun and vanquished the foot soldier with a few peas. I dragged the foot soldier to my window and threw him out of it, while I kept his gun to have it examined. I heard some yelling on the lawn, someone had seen the vanquished foot soldier. I looked out my window to find the Law Pea, Jared, looking at the downed foot soldier. Jared looked up at the window with a confused look on his face. I returned the confused look as he asked.  
"What happened?" I laughed and said.  
"I had an unexpected guest." I went back into my office to have another canister fly in through my window and hit me on the back of the head.

I was more cautious when I opened the canister this time, thankfully it didn't spew out a noxious gas. Instead there was a note inside detailing the latest mission we had been assigned. It was a demolition mission, but of a different type. Instead of targeting graveyards like normal, our target was an ammunition factory that produced pellets for Zomboss' foot soldiers. I went around and gathered everyone except Alex, no one had seen him since that morning. Worrying about that later, I explained the mission we had been assigned to everyone. There were murmurs between the plants at the table as they discussed the target and danger. When I dismissed the recruits, I discussed what would happen when we were on the mission, I needed someone to stay behind and help the recruits protect the base in our absence.  
Wulf volunteered to stay behind so I let him, that mean't it was me, Alison, Peter and Cole taking on one of the more heavily guarded parts of Zomburbia. I dismissed the rest of them and headed out to the lawn, I was going to go and find Alex.

I exited through the main gate and started by looking at the abandoned houses across the street. When I got to the first house, I could hear someone crying. I went in and found Alex in the corner sobbing to himself. I went over and patted him on the back, he immediately recoiled at the contact. He asked me.  
"Pete, around 6 years ago, were you in an attic, were a foot soldier massacred everyone you knew?" I stopped patting him on the back and stumbled backwards in shock. What did he know? Alex turned around and looked at my shocked expression and continued. "Well were you, I need to know." I nodded and said.  
"Yes, I was, I lost everyone though..." Before I could continue, Alex said.  
"No, you didn't lose everyone. My name isn't Alex, it's actually Jack, and I think I'm your brother." I fell onto my back and stammered, I must have looked like I had seen a ghost. I said.  
"No that-that's impossible. I saw your corpse." The peashooter standing above me said.  
"I wasn't dead, I nearly died, but you jumped before I could call out to you. If you want proof, my girlfriend was a sunflower named Josie, your friend was a torchwood named Flame. I sacrificed myself to save you." I shook my head, no plant should know anything like that. I said.  
"How, this can't be. You're...dead. I..." I just stammered until a loud smashing noise alerted the two of us, a strange looking foot soldier stood in the door. It bent over and fired a harpoon at 'my brother'. I pushed him out of the way and the harpoon impaled me straight through the chest, leaving a gaping hole that did something that hadn't happened to me in a long time, I bled. Jack pulled the harpoon out of my chest and I collapsed onto the floor, I had left my pack in my office so I couldn't cover the wound there and then. Before I could grab a blanket to cover the wound, Jack pushed me over, which actually got me out of the way of the pellets the foot soldier was firing. I managed to cover the wound with a tissue which had been thankfully unused. As I got up, Jack yelped before he collapsed, the lack of battle had left him inexperienced and an easy target for the foot soldier. I came out and hit the foot soldier with a few peas which vanquished him. I grabbed Jack and bought him back to the base, Alison and Bella came running out. I gave Jack to them and made sure they revived him before they attended to me. After a few seconds, they revived Jack, but the tissue I was using to cover the wound was so soaked in my blood, It couldn't absorb anymore and when Alison saw the blood flowing down my stem,  
it looked like she was going to have a heart attack.

Alison literally picked me up and carried me to the infirmary. Just after she put me into one of the beds, she wrapped a proper bandage around the gaping hole in my chest to replace the soaked tissue. A minute later, I started to feel light-headed and before I knew it, I had blacked out.


	14. Chapter 14: A mechanic named Hershel

When I felt consious again, I could hear someone talking with Alison. I groaned and they both immediatley stopped talking. I got a surprise when I opened my eyes to find Jack and Alison leaning over me, both with looks of relief. Jack was first to break the awkard silence.  
"Oh thank goodness, I thought I lost you again." I pulled off the thin sheet that covered the rest of my body and looked down, the hole was still there. Alison must have seen my frown and said.  
"You know it missed your heart by like 2cm." I frowned harder and looked around the infirmary, a familiar looking cactus was lieing in a bed next to mine. I asked.  
"Who is that?" Alison answered rather quickly.  
"Someone who made Wulf, Peter and Cole, extremly happy when they appeared." I got a better look at the cactus and said in astonishment.  
"Wait, it can't be, Cherie, she wasn't at Zomboss' estate, and she was taken with you." Alison shook her head and said.  
"Gala took out the zombie dragging Cherie and they tried to vanquish our guards but Gala had to escape because the foot soldiers nearly shot her out of the sky while Cheire had to run for survival." I nodded, it made sense the cactus didn't want to fight a battle up close with little support. I tried to get up to have Alison and Jack push me pack down onto the bed and Alsion said.  
"You need to stay in here until I figure out how to close the hole in your chest." I frowned. In an attempt to make me happier, Wulf came in and said.  
"The mission was a sucsess commander, the zombies won't have as many pellets for a while." I frowned even harder, the fact I couldn't go on the mission made me feel useless. Seeing this, Alison shooed Wulf out and went to check Cherie, she appeared to be in a stable condition. Jack went to walk out, before he did, I asked if he could bring me a glass of water.

It took the rest of that for Alison to come to the conclusion that she wouldn't be able to speed up the healing of the hole. I thought about possible ways to speed up the process, when the Jade Cactus messenger came into the infirmary and said.  
"How do you manage to get a hole in your stem, that was barely not fatal." I rolled my eyes and explained the harpoon incident. I went on to ask.  
"Do you know any quick ways to get to the L.E.A.F base?" The Jade Cactus nodded, reached into their pack and gave me a temporary portal cannister. They finished up by saying.  
"Look, when you get to L.E.A.F, ask for Hershel, he's a very good mechanic and he might be able to create a machine to help you with that hole." The Jade Cactus laughed as they walked out, probably to go back to L.E.A.F. I looked at the canister in my pod, I decided I would go with Alison and maybe my brother tomorrow morning.

When I woke up earlier then Alison, or my brother, I went into the canteen and had breakfast and a drink. Bella the Shadow Flower was the days chef, and when she saw the hole in my stem, she whistled and said.  
"Damn, how are you still alive with that hole there?" I laughed and rolled my eyes. I replied by saying.  
"The needs of the many out ways the needs of the few. I would endure the worst pain to save any plant." I went and had my breakfast, to have a mad Alison storm in.  
She yelled at me.  
"WHAT DID I TELL YOU!" She realized that she was in a canteen full of plants and toned down her yelling. "I thought I told you not to leave that infirmary" I looked at her and pulled out the canister. I told her.  
"Look, find my brother and meet me here, I think we might have a way to fix this...hole." She looked infuriated but she did what I asked. When Alison came back with my brother, I told them what the canister did.  
"This canister will open a temporary portal to the L.E.A.F base. We go through, ask for Hershel and he might be able to make something to fix...this." I pointed to the hole in my stem and opened the canister. The portal opened and I went through, Alison and Jack came through and the portal shut.

The eccentric cactus that operated the portal came over and asked.  
"What, how did you get here?" I explained how I got the canister then asked.  
"Do you know how I can find Hershel?" The eccentric cactus smilled and said.  
"Hershel is here at L.E.A.F for a few days actually, he's working on an improvement to Crazy Dave's Flying RV." I thanked the cactus and went off with Alison and Jack.  
We found Hershel in what appeared to be a garage. Hershel appeared to be the same Toxic Peashooter that I had seen in my dream. I yelled out to the nerdy Toxic Peashooter and asked.  
"Hey are you Hershel." They dropped the wielding tool they held in a pod and said.  
"Uh-um yeah, why do you ask?" I looked at Hershel and pointed to the hole in my stem and said.  
"I was told you could help me out of this...prediciment." Hershel dropped down, had a closer look at the hole in my stem and said.  
"Wow, how do you manage that?" Hershel looked up and continued by saying. "Damn, that was nearly fatal as well." I rolled my eyes and said.  
"Yeah, Alison told me it was nearly fatal as well. Look I can't lead my team until this hole heals." Hershel nodded and went off to get a few things. Jack looked at me and said.  
"You know, how do we know that this...Hershel can actually do this?" I rolled my eyes, my brother was always skeptical. I said.  
"If Crazy Dave trusts his engineering ability, I will as well."

Ten minutes later, Hershel came back with a strange looking device. He gave it to Alison and told her.  
"Look, if you can stich this into the hole, it should act like that missing part of his stem." I thanked Hershel and followed Alison and Jack out. Alison told us that she hadn't done stiching before, so we headed to the L.E.A.F bases infirmary to find a sunflower that could carry out the procedure. When we did, they got me to lie down on a bed and they knocked me out. When I woke up, I had a strange feeling in my chest, it turned out the sunflower had successfully stiched the device into the hole in my stem. Thanking the sunflower that did it, I got up and took the portal back home with Alison and Jack. 


	15. Chapter 15: The Pirate and The Scientist

When we were all through the portal, it shut behind us and left us on the street outside the base. We went through the gate onto the lawn and found that Cherie was up and walking. Cherie was talking to Wulf, Peter and Cole when we walked over to them, Cherie was talking about her adventures after she escaped the guards. When she saw me and Alison, she smiled and asked.  
"Pete, Alison, it's so good to see you all again. What is that strange device in your stem Pete?" She was looking at the device that Hershel had given me and a sunflower had stitched into the hole in my stem. I laughed and explained the harpoon incident. I went on to introduce Cherie to my brother Jack.  
"Oh, and Cherie, this is my older brother, Jack." Jack shook hands, well their equivalents, with Cherie and said.  
"Nice to meet you." I looked at my brother, he seemed captivated by the cactus that stood opposite him. When the two of them stopped shaking 'hands', Cherie said.  
"Well it's nice to meet you to." Cherie looked around and said. "Has anyone seen Gala?" We all shook our heads, I haven't seen Gala for two years. With a frown, Cherie closed her eyes, she had a look of extreme focus on her face. When she opened her eyes a few seconds later she whispered to herself.  
"See you soon Gala."

I spent the following hour in the canteen answering questions that everyone seemed to have. So it was a surprise when Cherie burst in with a look of extreme happiness on her face. Cherie said.  
"She's here, Gala, she would like to see you Pete." I put on a confused look and followed the cactus out onto the lawn. When I got out, the garlic drone peppered me with needles. I took cover behind a tree and yelled at the garlic drone.  
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!" Gala stopped shooting and said.  
"You, are an idiot. Wandering suburbia for the past two years, why have you only recently come back to them." I shook my head and said.  
"I have been here for the past two years fighting alongside Alison, Wulf, Peter, Cole, I haven't been wandering suburbia." Gala gave me a death glare and said.  
"Well, I have been tracking a peashooter for the past two years, I only stopped when I got a mental signal from Cherie." I gave her a dumbfounded look and said.  
"Yeah well, that isn't me." Gala frowned and went inside, Cherie quickly followed. I just sat there and pulled the needles out of my stem, so it gave me a fright to when a hand grabbed me from behind and I was warped into one of the abandoned houses across the street.

Before I knew what was going on, because the warp left me confused, I was being thrown into a cage and a pirate like voice spoke out.  
"Yaargh, I got 'im, now where be me way to get 'im to ye?" An indignified voice spoke out.  
"Heh, i'm the one who risked themselves to get him, you just sat in here and waited for me." The sound of something being smacked showed that the zombies weren't exactly the best team. I looked out of the cage to see a scientist rubbing their cheek and a Pirate holding a walkie-talkie. The pirate said to the scientist.  
"There be more of that if ye backtalk again ye landlubber." The pirate went back to talking into the walkie-talkie. "I be not dragging this cage back with this blubbering' buffoon." The scientist growled, grabbed their shotgun and walked out. The pirate sighed and went after the scientist.

Using the absence of guards to my advantage, I grabbed one of the needles still sticking out of my stem to pick the lock. It took 20 seconds of frustration to eventually unlock the cage and get out. When I did, the sound of boots near the door signalled that the zombies were coming back. I jumped onto the nearest windowsill and pulled open the window. Just before I jumped, shouting broke out at the other end of the room.  
"Catch 'im, if we don't it be on yer 'ead" I jumped to feel the projectiles the scientists shotguns fired barely pass over my head.

I hypered across the street to find Alison with an infuriated look on her face. When she saw me, she smiled and continued to wherever it was she was heading. I went inside to find a mess in the canteen, there was food, spikes, pea stains and goop all over the place, on the walls, ceiling and plants. I asked Bella what had happened. She said.  
"Well, Alex thought it would be funny if he shot Jared. Jared well...missed and hit everyone else and yeah, this happened." She gestured at the messy canteen. I thanked her and went to the room I shared with Alison. In the room, I went through my set of draws to find an old photo. It felt like the plants in the photo were looking back, the eyes haunting. Looking into the photo, I had changed so much. I was no longer a 'normal' peashooter, I had become an advanced Peashooter. My repeater brother was no longer a repeater either, he was also an advanced peashooter. The other two plants in the photo never had a chance to become advanced plants. My Repeater father and Ice Pea mother. Before I could stop myself, a tear rolled down the photo and blurred the image of my parents. I put the photo away and grabbed a something that I hadn't, and didn't, want to see.


	16. Chapter 16: The gift

I looked at the wrapped object that now lay in my pod. The mere sight of it crushed what little resistance I could muster. I lay down in my bed and held the object close to my chest and let the tears flow. I don't know how long I lay there crying to myself before someone gently touched my shoulder. I rolled over to find Alison sitting on the edge of my bed rubbing my arm. When she noticed me looking at her, she said sincerely.  
"What's the matter?" I rolled over and bit back the tears that threatened to flow again. I sat up next to her and said.  
"You know how I thought I lost everything, back all those years ago." Alison nodded and let me continue. "Well that was definitely a lie. My brother lives and I found something I never wanted to see after the night. When I left, I grabbed my pack and filled it with the few personal belongings I had." I held up the wrapped object for Alison to see and said. "This was a gift from my mother for my 11th birthday, which I never got to celebrate." I looked down and thought back the flood of tears that threatened to burst again. Alison continued to rub my arm and said.  
"You know, you might never let it go until you open the gift." I nodded, I was numb inside and didn't really have any feeling. I got up and went to my draws to grab the note that used to be attached to the package. I sat down next to Alison and read the note.

* _To my little warrior, when you read this, you will probably be getting ready to defend our lawn from the zombies. I just want you know, i'm proud of you no matter what you do, whether it be good or bad. Remember, don't let your brothers shadow get you down, treat it as a challenge you can rise from. To my little warrior son your ever proud mum, Elaine_.*

I couldn't help it, I let the tears flow, Alison rubbed my arm and read the note, she had a look of worry on her face. She put the note down and said.  
"Look, maybe it's a good idea to open the gift, it might ease the pain." I rubbed the tears out of my eyes and opened the gift, I was shocked. It was a gold ring with extremely vibrant feathers attached to it. It looked like the feathers hadn't faded since they were collected. On the inside of the wrapping paper was a note that read.

* _I didn't want to give too much away on the note so I wrote this here. The item you hold, which should hopefully still be vibrant when you get it, is the ring Dave gave to your father who gave it to me. I added some personal flare to it, but I made it so even when you can't see us, we will always be with you. You're brother has a message engraved into the ring, the ring represents your father and the feathers, me. You wear it on your head at the base of the leafs coming off the back of your head. Remember, we will always be with you no matter how far away we seem. Your mum, Elaine_.*

I looked around the ring to find a message in a language I didn't know, I would ask someone what it meant later, but it read.  
* _Fratri meo, ut fortunam sequar te whever vos_ *  
After rereading the message a few times, I put the ring on. I thread the left leaf on the back of my head through the center of the ring, the red, gold and black feathers sicking up into the air. Alison smiled and grabbed a mirror, I looked into it and gasped, my mum wasn't wrong about the vibrancy of the feathers. I looked at Alison and smiled. Before I knew it, I was hugging her and saying.  
"Thank you, thank you so much. I would never have known how amazing this gift was if it weren't for you." We released and Alison said.  
"Look, we should find your brother and ask what the words mean." I nodded and we set off to find my brother.

It took ten minutes to find my brother who was out relaxing in the sun. On the way there, different plants complemented the gift I got from my family. When we reached my brother I asked.  
"Hey, I know it's been six years, but I need to know what you wrote on this ring." My brothers expression changed to one of shock and he stammered.  
"How...how did you...I thought that was lost forever." I shook my head and said.  
"I threw it in my pack before I left, I would like to know what you had engraved into the ring." My brother nodded and said.  
"I had fratri meo, ut fortunam sequar te whever vos engraved into it. It roughly means...to my brother, may fortune follow you wherever you go." I hugged my brother and thanked them. When I released Jack he said.  
"No problem little bro. You're more of a hero then me, I think our parents would be proud of what you've done." I thanked him again and went back inside, I was hungry and I felt tired. When I finished eating in the dirty canteen, which was notably cleaner than before though, I went to bed and slept.


	17. Chapter 17: A massive mistake

I woke to the noise of a major commotion in the canteen. I got up, put on the headpiece that was a gift from my long dead mother, and headed into the canteen. When I walked into the canteen, the loud argument came to a stop, it seemed something big had happened. I proceeded to ask what happened, to only be swarmed by everyone answering at the same time. I shut everyone up and asked them one by one. I got the same answer from everyone, Jared and 'Alex', my brother Jack had been in a fight.  
I walked up to the two of them and asked.  
"Well, I expected better judgement from you Jared, and really. I didn't expect my older brother to need this talk." Almost everyone in the canteen gasped, I forgot that neither Jack nor myself had announced that we were brothers. I shook my head, grabbed the two of them and walked them outside. Out there, I asked who started it,  
unsurprisingly they both said 'He did'. I told both of them to sort out there issues and to start working together, or I would start discipling the two of them.

While I left them to sort it out, I went back into the canteen and had breakfast. Wulf and Cherie came over with bleak looks on there faces. I asked.  
"Whats with the bleak looks?" The two of them looked at each other with worried expressions and Wulf said.  
"Well, if you promise not to kill us, I will tell you." I promised and Cherie said.  
"Um, well, Alison is gone..." I didn't give her a chance to continue before I stood up and yelled at them  
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SHE'S GONE?" Wulf looked shocked, I had never yelled at another plant before. Cherie continued.  
"She had to go, she had no choice. L.E.A.F had an assignment for her." I sat back down and rubbed my head, why did I sleep in. I calmed myself down and said.  
"Do either of you know, where I can find her." They exchanged worried looks again, Wulf said.  
"Well they assumed you would look for her if we told you where she was heading, so no, we have no idea." I felt deflated, Alison was gone and I had no idea where she was. Just my luck when I finished eating, I headed up to my office to find a canister with detailing another mission we had been assigned.

This time it wasn't a demolition mission, it was a defence mission. Some intelligence had pointed out that the zombies were trying to steal some documents from one of the bases that had been recently abandoned. Our task was to defend the base until another team of plants could arrive to remove the documents. I gathered my team which was now only me, Peter, Cole and Wulf, Cherie and Gala would help defend our base in our absence. I explained what we would be doing on the mission, when a horn signalled us to the arrival of Crazy Dave in his Flying RV. We quickly got into it and set off to where we would be defending.

It took five minutes to get there, and we got there in the nick of time, the zombies had just begun the attack. We held back a small wave of browncoats before heading inside to get some cover since there was none out the front of the building. For the following hour we held back wave after wave of zombies trying to get the documents in the base. A loud smashing noise came from the back of the base. While Cole, Wulf and Peter defended the front from a giant push, I went around the back to investigate the noise, what I found, gave me a surprise.

The same peashooter that had saved my life not to long ago was looking through the documents. I quietly approached them and tapped them on the shoulder. In little more than two seconds flat, I was on my back with a pod over my throat and a furious looking peashooter looking into my eyes. With a free pod, I reached into my pack and tried to grab the photo that I found in the abandoned house over a week ago. The peashooter noticed this and prevented me from doing so. While they pinned me to the floor, they grabbed my pack and went through it. After a few seconds, there expression changed from fury to shock, they had found the photo. They let me up and dropped everything but the photo they now held. Rubbing my throat, I asked.  
"Wh-who are you?" I coughed and the peashooter opposite me said.  
"Someone who has made a massive mistake." They sounded disgusted in themselves, they continued. "And thank you, for finding this." With that, they hypered out and left me standing there in confusion.

I spent the next half an hour with the other 3 plants in my team, Cole, Peter and Wulf, holding back the zombies while the documents we were protecting were taken away by plants from L.E.A.F. When all the documents were removed, we returned home with the help of Dave and his flying RV. I hoped to find Alison there, but to no avail, she was still gone and I felt like I had a bigger hole in my chest. Without knowledge of Alison's location and health, I felt sick, I missed her more than anything at the moment.

The rest of the day I spent in my office wondering why the peashooter acted the way they did, where and why Alison had gone and what I was going to do without Alison.  
I didn't come to a conclusion so I went down into the quiet canteen and heated up some leftovers from the dinner I missed. As I ate, strange flashing lights flashed outside the windows, so I got up and had a look. Before I knew it, a loud smashing noise broke the silence and a foot made contact with my head. Rolling with it, I rolled beneath what came through the window, to find an Imp standing in front of me. The Imp was oblivious to where I was and didn't find me for a few seconds, when they did, I vanquished them with a couple of peas to the face.

I got up and went to bed, I would get rid of the Imp in the morning. I took off the headpiece I now wore whenever I was awake and rolled into bed. Feeling hollow, I made sure not to look at the empty bed across from my own.


	18. Chapter 18: Some real 'Firepower'

I had been awake for over an hour now, but the lack of feeling inside me acted like restraints that tied me down to the bed. It felt like it, until someone violently shook me and said.  
"Cheer up glum bum, Alison is back with some real 'firepower'." With that, they walked out laughing to themselves. I sighed and got up, I wanted to believe Alison was back, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. I put on the headpiece that was a gift from my long dead mother and headed towards the sound of the commotion. When I walked out onto the lawn, I stopped and stared at the sight before me. Alison was talking to a couple of the recruits placed under my command, but the more shocking sight was the Fire Pea, Fire Chomper and Fire Cactus that were with her. When Alison noticed me, she ran over and said.  
"Oh my goodness Pete, i'm so sorry I wasn't able to tell you I would be gone. The things some of the other plants said about you in my absense, i'm so sorry to have put you through that pain." I shook my head and pulled her into a hug, all feeling returned to me when she hugged me back. I said while we hugged.  
"It's fine, I was just so worried about you." We released each other and Alison frowned. She said.  
"You now know how it feels to be me when you go missing or get hurt." I looked down and said.  
"I'm sorry then. If I really knew the suffering my...pathetic life caused you, I would have tried to restrain myself from doing the stupid things I do." Alison looked taken aback. She proceeded to say.  
"You aren't pathetic and the things you do that you think are stupid, they are acts of bravery, not stupidity. If you had some self-confidence, you would be one of the deadliest peashooters in suburbia." I looked at Alison and gave her a weak smile. I ended up saying to her.  
"Thank you Alison, you mean the world to me." It was Alison's turn to blush. Before she could say anything, the other fire plants came over and began introducing themselves. The Fire Chomper introduced themselves as Elias, the Fire Cactus as Joan and the Fire Pea as James. I asked Alison.  
"So this is the 'firepower' everybody's been going on about?" While Alison gave me a bemused look, the other fire plants looked unimpressed. Elias replied with.  
"Yes, Alison here is our leader." My expression immediately changed from a weak smile to one of shock and surprise. I managed to say a few words.  
"Wh-what, when...how...I, words fail me." I was definitely blushing because Alison giggled and said.  
"That's why I've been gone for the past day, I wanted to tell you but I couldn't, they didn't want you following me." I shook my head and said.  
"Why didn't you leave a note?" She looked close to tears when she said.  
"Because they threatened to kill you if I left a hint to what we were doing." I looked down and thought about what to say. The silence was broken by the Fire Pea,  
James who said.  
"Look, I don't think L.E.A.F would have actually had him killed, that would have jeopardized the whole war effort in this part of suburbia." I looked up to see Alison shaking her head at James and she said.  
"A rather old looking chomper stood over him as he slept and was poised to rip out Pete's throat. I didn't want to risk it." I said to Alison.  
"Thank you Alison, you're braver than I will ever be." Alison's expression changed from sadness to anger and she said.  
"Stop being...pig-headed, you are braver, stronger and more important than you think." I looked at her and replied.  
"No, i'm nothing like what you just described. I'm a coward and not worth the effort to keep alive." Alison continued in her angry tone.  
"FINE THEN! If you think that, I will let it come true. I am being assigned to a sector in northern suburbia with the other fire plants here." With that, she stormed off and headed towards Crazy Dave's flying RV which was on the road waiting for the fire plants. The other fire plants near me headed off after her, and so did I.

When I caught up to her she shoved me back and threatened to burn me on the spot, her petals no longer a light orange but a light blue. I pulled my mother's gift off my head and held it out to Alison. I proceeded to say.  
"Here then, if you don't want to see me ever again, at least have this." She looked at the gift I offered her for a couple of seconds, which felt like an eternity, and rejected the offer. She turned around and hopped in the RV. With no chance to get to her, I turned around and, with my head hung low, I locked myself in the room that was now all mine.

I spent the rest of that day and the next staring at the roof, contemplating what I had left to live for. When someone knocked on the door, I told them to go away,  
but they persisted to knock until I answered. When I did, I was looking at Wulf, my brother and a strange looking Alien Flower. Wulf introduced the Alien Flower.  
"Without Alison, we need an experienced medic. So, L.E.A.F sent her and she needs a roommate." I shook my head and said.  
"No offence miss..." The Alien Flower said.  
"Vivian." I continued.  
"Miss Vivian. I'm just not ready for another roommate. Wulf on the other hand could do with one." Both the Alien Flower and Plasma Peashooter's expression changed from uneasiness to jubilation. Seeing them happy made me feel worse. With Alison gone on a sour note, I felt like I had shot myself in the heart. Vivian snapped me out of my thoughts by saying.  
"Thank you so much...Pete." I smiled weakly and unconvincingly at them. Wulf and Vivian went off to the room leaving me with my brother, Jack.

Jack rubbed the back of his head and said.  
"You know, there's this nice restaurant nearby that has some pretty sweet flowers who are single..." I didn't let him finish, I was talking so quietly he had to shut up to hear me.  
"I can't, I don't feel anything inside, not even a heartbeat anymore." My brother stalked off and I closed my door, I was going to wither away in this room until I found something to keep me going.

 _A/N: Damn this was depressing to write ;-;_


	19. Chapter 19: It's a trap!

It had been three days since I had last spoken to anyone, I was starving and thirsty but I didn't care, I was going to let myself die in this room. I heard knocking at the door, but I lacked the energy to answer, so they busted down my door and said.  
"Damn Pete, are you even alive?" I raised a pod to say I was, the plant that busted down my door sighed in relief and said. "Good, we know where Alison is." I looked at the plant, who turned out to be Cole, and said.  
"Thanks Cole, can you help me get to the canteen." I got up and, with the help of Cole, headed to the canteen.

In the canteen, I ate the first food since Alison left, as well as the first drink. Despite being starving, I didn't feel like eating much. When I finished eating I asked.  
"So, where is she?" Peter looked at me and asked.  
"Why do you care? I mean she did leave you." I shook my head and said.  
"Because of a promise I made her over two years ago. So I ask again, where is she?" Peter gave me a look of dismay, but Wulf, who clearly had a thing for Vivian said.  
"She's here." He pointed to a base in the far north of suburbia, an over 2 day trip if I could hyper the distance non-stop. I frowned and said.  
"I need to go." I got up and left for the north, I was going to get there or die trying.

It took me four days to find the base where Alison was. The trip left me battered, hungry and thirsty, I ran into six different patrols of zombies, none of which I left standing. When I got into the base, it had been abandoned for well over a few years. I explored the base to find a room that made me feel sick to the core. The room was covered in human blood. I looked around to find a decaying human body with a massive chunk missing from it's head. I turned around and headed outside, to find I was surrounded by plants, none of which I had ever seen. I was relieved for a second, until I saw the faces of the plants, especially that of an elder chomper. Most plants had a face of fear while a few had looks of anger, but the one that stood out was the smug expression on the old chompers face. The old chomper said.  
"Oh you fool, I can't believe you fell for this trap." I turned around to look at the base, to be quickly blasted onto my back as an explosion destroyed the base.

Through the ringing in my ears I could hear the laughs of the plants that surrounded me. I got up and stood in front of the burning base, blood running down my face from a cut just beneath my eye, looking into the eyes of the elderly chomper. I let the blood run down and asked.  
"Why, why do you want me dead?" The elder chomper laughed and said.  
"Let's say, a certain party wants you out of this war, and for the protection of the plants, I think it's best if you just disappeared." I thought for a second until realization hit me like a ZPG. I said to the plants in front of me.  
"Don't listen to him, if he's made a deal with Zomboss, he will betray you all. Zomboss betrayed his deal with me and he will do the same to you all." The plants laughed and the chomper said.  
"You think it was Zomboss? Let's say there are more then us Plants and Zombies involved in this debacle." I frowned and a chomper lunged at me. With adrenaline pumping through my body, everything seemed to slow down and my reactions were quicker. I easily dodged the lunging chomper and let them hit the ground, but I didn't fight back, it felt wrong to. The next minute I spent dodging and blocking attacks from various plants, the effects of adrenaline began to wear off as I avoided the attacks, I fought harder the more beaten I was. Without something to fuel my adrenaline, time sped up to a normal pace and I had to fight back, unless I wanted to be a chompers dinner. Every plant I knocked out made me feel sick, I felt like the villain, but like my father once said before the fateful night he was crushed,  
sometimes to be the hero, you have to become the villain of the piece.

When it was only me and the elder chomper, they called out.  
"Congratulations on making yourself the villain. Now I have an answer for L.E.A.F when I eat you." I growled at the chomper and said.  
"Who says I'm going to let you eat me?" The chomper laughed and spat at me. I barely dodged the chompers saliva, to be pinned on the ground by the chomper who said.  
"I had no pleasure in meeting you, but I am going to have pleasure slowly eating you so you're still alive as I eat you." I shot the chomper who proceeded to slam the device in my chest until it had been pushed out of my stem. The hole began to bled as I bit back the need to yell in pain, I didn't want the chomper to get pleasure from my pain. I stuck them with a steely look and waited for whatever torture they had planned.

When the next attack didn't come, I yelled at the chomper.  
"COME ON, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR? DO IT, I HAVE NOTHING LEFT." The crazed chomper smiled, until he was being peppered by small flaming specks. I turned in the direction of the specks and smiled, it was Alison. While I was distracted, the old chomper ripped out my throat and burrowed away. I yelled out in pain as my body began to spasm involuntarily at the sudden removal of my throat. The world began to dissolve around me and the last thing I remember seeing and hearing was Alison crying over me and saying.  
"Oh no, please no, I would take back everything I said just to have you bac..."


	20. Chapter 20: The visions of the dead

**_A/N: Something different this chapter :). The chapter will change between Pete and Alison's POV (Point of view)_**

I awoke in a strange room that seemed a whole world away from what I was used to. It was clean, but didn't look like an infirmary. Remembering the last thing that happened, I pulled off the blanket and investigated my body. The hole in my stem was gone and it seemed my throat was were it should be. I got up and looked around the small house, there was some food on a kitchen bench but no one to be seen anywhere. I ate the food which tasted awfully familiar, something I hadn't eaten in years.  
Behind me, a sweet, shocked and extremely familiar voice said softly.  
"S-son?" I dropped the food and turned around, I thought I was about to have a heart attack...

* * *

 _Alison's POV_

* * *

I cried over Pete's body, there was little I could do for the 17 year old peashooter that I now held in my arms. The old chomper that ripped out his throat was going to pay for what he did, especial after L.E.A.F find's out. For the past two years I had been by his side and the last thing that he would have heard me saying was how ...pig headed he was being. I tried to gather my thoughts through the tears but I simply couldn't, he was going to bleed out in my arms and I could do nothing but watch it happen. I lay him on the ground and looked around, there had to be something I could use or do to bring him back...

* * *

 _Pete's POV_

* * *

I stared in shock at the Ice Pea that stood in the door way. If it really was who I thought it was, she hadn't aged since the day she died. They walked over to me and grabbed my face the same way they did when I had been in a fight over seven years ago and I said.  
"Mum, is that really you?" The Ice Pea started to cry and said.  
"It really is you, that must mean you're dead or dieing. Oh not my son please no." I grabbed the Ice Pea that was panicking before me and pulled them into a hug. I told them.  
"I'm so sorry mum, I failed. I failed to keep my promise to you and to Alison." I began to tear up. My mother slapped me and said.  
"You haven't failed me, in fact you've made me so proud. You did what was right, you went after her when she rejected you, you fought against the worst odds to protect other plants, and you very rarely lost faith when things went bad." I looked down and said.  
"But I still failed Alison, I couldn't keep my promise to her." I looked into my mums caring eyes as she said.  
"Where there's a will, there's a way. You might not have broken your promise just yet." I gave her a confused look which she returned with a smile...

* * *

 _Alison's POV_

* * *

Despite my best attempts, I still couldn't find anything to help me save the peashooter that was bleeding out on the lawn. I was about to give up when I found a brown pack that belonged to Pete. I went through the bag and I found a knife, a strange looking canister, a few documents and a coffee bean container. I smiled as I believed I could still save him. Grabbing the coffee bean container, I ran over to Pete and opened the container. I powdered the coffee beans and covered his body in the powder. The deadly wounds began to heal over at an unprecedented rate but the expression on the downed peashooters face hadn't changed, perhaps I was to late...

* * *

 _Pete's POV_

* * *

I looked out the window to see Alison breaking down in tears, an empty coffee bean container stood next to my body. It felt confusing looking at my own body. My mum came over and said.  
"You know, if you walk out that door there," She pointed at the door next to the window and continued. "You will go back, you will wake up in her arms and not remember any of what just happened." I looked at the door and thought about it. See Alison and give her a reason to live, or stay with my mum and stay dead. I ended up saying.  
"I love you mum." We hugged each other...

* * *

 _Alison's POV_

* * *

Despite the wounds being healed, Pete hadn't woken up yet and I was beginning to cry again. I said to the limp body I held in my arms.  
"Please don't leave me, I can't lose another one." Just as I went to put his body down, I felt a little movement and a very weak voice said.  
"I promised I would never leave you right?" In jubilation, I dropped Pete onto the ground, which he replied with a groan. I helped him get up and we walked over to his pack so we wouldn't leave behind anything important. I carried everything and he said in a very unconvincing voice.  
"I'm strong enough to carry my own stuff Alison." I shook my head and said.  
"You've lost a lot of blood, you aren't thinking straight. Plus you look like you just had a shower of blood." Pete groaned and I giggled at him, despite his terrible state, he was still trying to be a gentle plant...

* * *

 _Pete's POV_

* * *

Thanks to Alison, I was still alive. This was the second time the Fire Flower next to me had saved my life, and I was deeply grateful for it. We had managed to get to the L.E.A.F base in only an hour after I realized I had a portal canister in my pack. When we arrived at L.E.A.F, we were immediately taken to the infirmary.  
I spent the next two days at L.E.A.F as I recovered from the massive blood loss I suffered a few days before. A few guards walked into the infirmary and grabbed me.  
A few of the sunflowers protested, until they were shown a document that changed their expressions from outrage to shock.

 _A/N: I am back at school ;-; so slow updates for the next 4-6 weeks, after that I'm back on holiday XD_


	21. Chapter 21: Accusations?

I was being held up by a cactus and a similar looking fire cactus as they spoke to the sunflower in charge of the infirmary. I was still weak from the fight a few days ago and I didn't really fancy taking another beating. I let the cacti carry me to a meeting room, where I immediately felt all life return to me. I glared at the old chomper that sat in a chair looking smug and invincible. If it weren't for the presence of Icee the Ice Pea, Jack the agent pea, the Citrus Cactus and Camo Cactus that appeared to run L.E.A.F, I would have killed the chomper there and then. Icee began by saying.  
"So, Pete, we have reports from this chomper here that you attacked him and the plants that he lead." I growled at the chomper and said.  
"He is a traitor! He kept the plants under his command through fear and he showed no remorse when he ripped out my throat and threatened to torture me." There were gasps but Jack was first to ask.  
"Why are you here then? No sunflower is good enough to heal such a wound." I smiled and said.  
"I had a few coffee bean containers in my pack, Alison revived me that way, it also healed my wounds." The following gasps were of astonishment, the chomper looked uneasy. In an attempt to counter my coffee bean statement, the chomper said.  
"I-I never saw any coffee bean containers." There were murmurs, but I asked.  
"Can I call in a witness, someone was there when this happened." Icee said.  
"Who is the witness." I smiled again and said.  
"Alison."

When Alison arrived, she gave the chomper a look of absolute disgust, the other plants around the table noticed it and began to talk to each other. Icee broke the murmuring up after a minute and asked.  
"Alright Alison, what did you see?" Alison, for the first time since I had been with her, took off her aviators and asked.  
"Is there a projector I could use, my shades have a camera in them, I recorded the incident on them." The Camo Cactus got up and helped Alison set up the projector and play the event.

The video began with Alison watching the old chomper from behind as we stared eachother down, the base was still intact, it was just before the explosion. A few seconds later, an explosion rocked the screen which was proceeded by Alison cursing. Alison blushed when she heard herself and I nearly laughed at her. The tape played my ordeal of dealing with the elder chompers underlings. The chomper began to frown as he watched me avoid fighting back for as long as I could. When it came to the part that made me want to kill the chomper, I growled quietly throughout the entire part. There were gasps when the tape showed the parts where the chomper reopened the ex-hole in my stem and when they ripped out my throat. Alison went to turn off the tape when it showed the part she had ran up to my spasming body but the Camo Cactus stopped her. They let the tape play until it showed I was still alive.

The room was silent for a good minute or two while the plants around the table processed what had just happened. Icee was first to break the silence by saying.  
"So, I believe it would be fair to pardon Pete of the accusations and look into taking this chomper to trial." There were murmurs of agreement while the elder chomper frowned. I looked at Alison, who was sitting next to me, and asked.  
"Why didn't you help earlier?" She sighed with a deep expression of sorrow on her face.  
"I'm sorry, I was still mad at you, I shouldn't have let my emotions take hold like that." I sighed as well and forgave her.

A few minutes later, a pair of cacti guards entered the room and went to arrest the old chomper. The elder chomper clearly didn't want to be arrested and pushed the guards out of the way as he made a run through the door. Despite our best attempts, we failed to prevent the chompers escape. Jack frowned and said.  
"Dave dammit, with him on the loose, he's a threat to us, we need to do something about this." Everyone in the room, including me agreed. Icee was first to speak.  
"Yes, but we can worry about the chomper later." Icee turned to me and said. "Look, Pete, we owe you a formal apology and if it makes it up to you, I propose we promote your team to Delta." I looked at Icee then Alison with a shocked expression. When I came to my senses I asked.  
"Is that a good idea? I don't feel like anything I've done has been worth a damn." Alison shook her head at me and Jack the agent pea said.  
"Your team has carried out a daring assault on a heavily guarded part of Zomburbia while you've gone beyond the call of duty to save the lives of plants, I think you and your team deserve it." I shook my head but before I could argue, the Camo Cactus said.  
"I may not like the informality of the occasion, but given the circumstances and proof, I believe we can allow this to go ahead." Alison looked jubilant and Icee said.  
"It's settled then, you and your team now hold the status of a Delta team." I stared at them all with a look of astonishment and thanked them. We prepared to leave when a strange sight caught my view.


	22. Chapter 22: A smashing party

_**A/N: Another chapter where the POV swaps between Pete, Alison and Wulf :) (Like last time, the first POV is Pete)**_

The plants in Alison's Fire Team were coming over to us and they seemed to be worried. Alison's expression dropped when she saw them but she hid it and smiled at them. When they got over to us, Joan, the fire cactus said.  
"Thank Dave you're alright, we thought you were a gonner." I shook my head as Alison said.  
"We're tougher than you think, you know." James, the fire pea laughed while Elais, the fire chomper said.  
"Well at least we know. Look, Alison, we need to go." I looked at Alison uneasily and before I could say anything, she pulled me into a hug and said goodbye.  
Alison and the other fire plants quickly ran off and out the front door of the giant, metallic L.E.A.F base while I walked off towards one of the most secure rooms in the base, the portal room. I used the portal in the room to travel back to base where I tried to carry on with life.

* * *

 _6 Months Later_

* * *

Nothing had changed, the battle against the zombies was continuously going back and forth while L.E.A.F attempted to eliminate the internal conflict between plants.  
The only major difference between today, tomorrow and yesterday was the fact I was alone at base. I sat in the canteen alone, all the recruits were away taking their final assessments at L.E.A.F, Wulf had taken Vivian out to lunch while Peter and Cole were out on a mission I had assigned them earlier that week. While I had gotten use to Alison not being around, it struck hard knowing she wasn't going to be around for my birthday. Alison was the only plant that knew the importance of the day apart from my brother and myself. Despite his protests, I told my brother to go to the assessments, my birthday wasn't as important as his chance to lead his own team. So it was a surprise when a voice spoke out of the dark hallway that lead into the canteen. It sounded eerily familiar but much darker.  
"Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you. Today's gift is death, and a trip to my estate." I got up and looked around, I had nothing other than a knife to help me if the situation demanded it. A slowly clapping Zomboss walked through the door into the canteen, surrounded by foot soldiers and an Imp. The Imp smiled deviously as they looked at me while the foot soldiers looked bored and unimpressed. Zomboss finished clapping and said.  
"What's the matter? Be thankful I'm giving you a chance to celebrate your 18th year of misery for a few minutes, damn. Talk about ungrateful." I glared at the leader of the zombies while I thought of a way out of this mess. My only real chance was if someone came in to distract the zombies long enough for me to vanquish a few...

* * *

 _Wulf's POV_

* * *

I looked into the eyes of the beautiful Alien Flower named Vivian, captivated by her unique personality. We had recently finished lunch and we were just walking through the gate onto the lawn at the front of our base and home when we began to hear yells coming from the canteen. I quickly hypered towards the base, something yelped in pain as something else cackled just after the yelp. I jumped through the window to be met with a terrible sight...

* * *

 _Alison's POV_

* * *

I sighed at the sight of the graveyard, a few more seconds and it would be ruble. When I checked my calendar this morning, I saw it was Pete's birthday and there was nearly no chance of me being able to visit him. When the gnome bomb went off and the graveyard collapsed, the other plants in my team looked jubilant, I was happy for them of cause, I just felt guilty knowing Pete would probably be the only plant there other than his brother that knew it was his birthday. I hopped in Crazy Dave's flying RV with the rest of the plants in my team and sat by a window. I expected Dave to fly us to base but instead he flew in the direction of the giant, metallic L.E.A.F base that was hidden deep in the remains of suburbia...

* * *

 _Wulf's POV_

* * *

I was shocked by the sight I saw. Zomboss was protected by a battered looking group of foot soldiers while an Imp held a knife to Pete's throat, the peashooter looked like he was about to collapse and was covered in so many cuts I was surprised he was still able to speak.  
"Wulf, get out and go warn the othe..." The Imp cut him off by making a small incision in Pete's neck, he started to bleed. I yelled at the Imp.  
"You bastard, let him go or I'll..." This time Zomboss cut me off.  
"Or you'll what? If you make a move your precious leader loses his head, and what a terrible day to, I mean it is his birthday."...

* * *

 _Pete's POV_

* * *

The look of shock on Wulf's face was truly amazing, but Zomboss ruined the moment and said.  
"You didn't know? What a terrible leader, keeping a few secrets hidden." The bastard Zomboss and the Imp who was holding my own knife to my throat laughed. I looked at Wulf and said.  
"Look, you looked so happy with Vivian I didn't want to ruin your time with her." Wulf gave me a look of sympathy while Zomboss gagged and said.  
"Yuck, all this sentimental stuff makes me want to vomit. Now then, guards, kill that Plasma Pea as my last gift to this pathetic peashooter...

* * *

 _Alison's POV_

* * *

We landed at L.E.A.F Hq not long after being picked up by Crazy Dave, and the sight that I saw made me feel slightly better. The recruits that I had last seen over 6 months ago hopped into the flying RV with looks of absolute glee on their faces. When I saw Jack, Pete's brother, I asked him.  
"How's Pete and I hoped you wished him a happy birthday for me." The peashooter that looked so similar to Pete that sat across from me nodded and said.  
"I did and guess what?" I smiled and said.  
"What?" The peashooter grinned as he said.  
"I'm now a leader as well. I mean, I thought I had failed to pass my final test, but when I found out I passed, I nearly passed out. The agent pea, Jack was impressed and told me that was nearly the greatest test he had ever seen..." I let the peashooter opposite me ramble on while we flew towards southern suburbia.

* * *

 _Pete's POV_

* * *

As soon as Zomboss ushered those words, I broke free of the Imp's grasp and jumped in front of Wulf, and just in the nick of time. I yelled in pain when A ZPG slammed into my back and the last thing I heard was Zomboss laugh and Wulf yell no.

* * *

 _Wulf's POV_

* * *

Pete yelled out out in pain as he took a ZPG to save me. I quickly glared at Zomboss as I picked up my fallen comrade and hypered them outside. I met up with Vivian who gave me a questioning look. I told her.  
"Vivian can you please revive Pete, I will explain later." A few seconds later and we were being bombarded with yellow pellets, nearly all found there mark. I was covered with small cuts as I protected Vivian while she revived Pete, I really needed his help. I spotted the Imp pulling out a small device, which it threw at us.  
I caught it, only to be lifted into the air, gravity didn't seem to work anymore. I was immobilized and I was being hit with everything the zombies could shoot at me.  
Every pellet and laser blast that made contact hurt more and more, my health draining away at an alarming rate...

* * *

 _Alison's POV_

* * *

When Crazy Dave landed near the base, he had a look of worry and told us all to get out. When we were all out, we set off towards the base I once called home. When we arrived, I almost screamed at what I saw. Wulf was suspended in the air and looked close to being knocked out while an alien flower was trying to revive Pete. I told my team to try and get Wulf out and to a place could be healed while I ran over to Pete to revive him, this day seemed to be getting worse...


	23. Chapter 23: A trail of blood

Light flooded the dark void that had engulfed me since I took the ZPG for Wulf. Knowing someone was trying to revive me, I let the light engulf the darkness and awoke to see Alison and Vivian with expressions of relief on their faces. I sat up and looked around, Alison and her team had arrived with the recruits while Wulf looked terrible, he was covered in cuts and burn marks but he was still standing. Bella the Shadow Flower was treating to Wulf's wounds while my brother, Jack was organizing the recruits who appeared to be fulfilling his orders. I gave my brother a smile because I knew just by seeing what was happening, he had passed his assessment and was the leader of his own team. Alison snapped me from my thoughts and asked.  
"What's going on?" I frowned and explained how I was alone in the canteen when Zomboss and his retinue walked in. I went onto explain the small fight that resulted in my capture and how I took a ZPG to protect Wulf. Alison looked unhappy but went over to Wulf to ask what happened while I was out. A rather unhappy voice addressed us.  
"Come out you cowards, it will make your deaths faster." I smiled at my brother and said back.  
"We will. So I can personally stick your head on a spike." I succeeded in angering Zomboss who replied with a horrible memory.  
"That won't be happening anytime soon you green pest. You know how i'm going to kill you, the exact same way I killed your father." Some of the plants around me gasped while I came out from behind the fence I was using as cover and glared at the leader of the zombies. I managed to say in the most menacing voice I could manage.  
"You, wouldn't, dare." The zombie simply laughed and said.  
"I dare to. Your poor father, he looked so pathetic and weak when I crushed him beneath the metal foot of my Zombot, but of course being the nuisance he was, he refused to die. I got one of my first Foot Soldiers to grab him and bring him to me. I looked at the weak Repeater who couldn't do anything about his coming fate and made him watch as your mother, your brother and everyone else he knew were destroyed. After that I threw him into the pool where he drowned." Completely infuriated, I jumped the fence and hypered towards the leader of the zombies, adrenaline flowing through my body. I dodged nearly everything the zombies shot at me, the Foot Soldiers expression's had changed from boredom to worry. Zomboss simply stood there and smirked at me when a roar broke the air.

The moment I stopped to look in the direction of the roar, the Imp through a grenade at me. I tried to jump out of the range of the grenade but before I could I was picked up and held in the air. Zomboss laughed and signalled his guards to not shoot while he said.  
"You really thought I would come here with just them? I personally know how painful you are to get rid of so I bought some...insurance." I shot at what I thought was Zomboss but it turned out it was a wall, I couldn't aim like this. The Imp laughed and said.  
"You aren't shooting anyone like that." After a few moments I was dropped onto the ground which was shacking. I got up to see a Giga-Gargantuar aiming the trash can on it's back at me. Before I could react, 4 kamikaze Imp's exploded around me, it was a miracle I survived the barrage. I got up and and hypered towards the Giga-Gargantuar before it could fire a blast of electricity from the power pole it carried.  
Just as the Giga-Gargantuar began to fire a burst of electricity I jumped and landed on it's arm and before it could react I put 12 peas into its giant head. I needed to reload so I ran along its arm before it could flick me off. I reloaded and put more peas into its head…

* * *

 _Jack's POV_

* * *

I watched as my younger brother put pea after pea into the Giga-Gargantuars head. Just before the Giga-Gargantuar could hit him he had relocated, reloaded and repeated the process. Just as it looked like Pete would fell the beast by himself, he was knocked off its back by a blast of electricity that appeared to have stunned him. Alison screamed as the Giga-Gargantuar crushed Pete with its power pole. Enraged, both me and Wulf hypered towards the Giga-Gargantuar. Just before the Gargantuar could deal a killing blow, Wulf fired a fully charged plasma pea at the giant beast which managed to get its attention. Now focused on us, we split so it could only target one of us at a time, unfortunately it targeted me…

* * *

 _Wulf's POV_

* * *

While Jack distracted the Giga-Gargantuar, I went around the side of it to grab Pete who had survived. Despite his protests, I dropped a chili bean bomb next to the gargantuar and picked up Pete. I hypered him back to Alison when another yell of pain broke the air. I quickly put down Pete and went back to help his brother finish off the Giga-Gargantuar…

* * *

 _Pete's POV_

* * *

I tried to break out of Alison's grasp but her grip was far tighter than I thought. I tried to argue with her by saying.  
"Alison, let me go, i'm fine." The giant cut in my stem that had started to bleed disagreed but I still tried to get her to let me go. When she finally let me go, I hypered towards the fighting, Zomboss had let his foot soldiers finally intervene. I picked off two of the 12 foot soldiers while Wulf and Jack dealt with the giga-gargantuar. I turned my back on the gargantuar to deal with a General Supremo to be picked up from behind and thrown across the street towards the base. When I hit the wall everything went dark again…

* * *

 _Alison's POV_

* * *

I screamed as Pete was thrown across the street towards the base. He hit the wall with an extremely loud thump and where he hit left a large splatter of blood on the wall. I got up and started to head towards his limp body, only to be fired at by an Imp. I jumped behind a trashcan and yelled out.  
"HEY, I COULD USE SOME HELP HERE!" Before I knew it the Imp fell limp just as it came around the side of the trashcan and I thanked my team. I ran towards where Pete's limp body was but it was missing. A trail of blood snaked its way around the side of the base so I followed it around to find it stop abruptly and leading to nowhere…

* * *

 _Vivian's POV_

* * *

I healed the injured Plasma Peashooter that stood beside me, the zombies went on the retreat after the Giga-Gargantuar finally fell to a rapid barrage of spike, peas and spores. Alison came over to us, she looked like she was about to break down in tears. She said in a very terrified tone.  
"Pete's missing, I can't find him and I think Zomboss has him."


	24. Chapter 24: A pool of blood

I awoke on a cold metal floor in a pool of my own blood. I looked at the cut in my stem which had thankfully stopped bleeding. I was snapped from my thoughts by the sound of metal scrapping on metal and the sound of boots colliding with the metal floor. I got up and went to the plastic window that let me see my visitor, someone I wish I had killed over two years ago. I stood and glared at Zomboss who had a smug expression on his face just before he said.  
"Evening sleepy head, I'm going to give you a choice. You can tell me where the L.E.A.F base is and I might let you live." I continued to glare at Zomboss as I said.  
"Or what?" The zombie on the other side of the plastic pane laughed menacingly slightly before continuing.  
"Or, I will beat the information out of you, let's see how stubborn you are when you're on the brink of death." I growled at the zombie on the other side of the pane and said.  
"I would like to see you try." The zombie continued to laugh before walking off somewhere else.

An hour after I woke up an All-Star stood outside my cell and took a tackle stance. The pane that divided us slowly lowered itself and I prepared to jump the All-Star. Before the pane fully lowered itself, a purple gas flooded the area. I was unable to see and I was too busy gagging as the gas ate its way through me to notice the zombie that was about to tackle me, let alone attempt to dodge them. The next few seconds knocked everything out of me, air and gas, as I was slammed against the metal wall at the back of the cell. I was so disorientated I didn't care that the zombie was now carrying me to a different room.

When I finally came to my bearings, I sat tied up in a strange looking chair. Zomboss was standing there and began to explain what was about to happen.  
"Since you don't want to co-operate, I will have to get the information by force." He nodded to a physicist that stood next to a lever. The physicist pulled the lever and I yelled out in pain as electricity passed its way through me. After a few seconds it stopped and Zomboss said.  
"Now are you ready to co-operate?" I glared at Zomboss and spat on his face. Zomboss growled and grabbed a metal pole leaning against the wall and smashed it against my head. I tried to rotate my head in the same direction to limit the damage done but the restraints that held me to the chair prevented me from moving too well. I grunted as the pole made contact with my head. Zomboss frowned at my lack of a reaction and nodded at the physicist who proceeded to pull down the lever. Prepared for the coming shock of electricity, I refused to yell out and let Zomboss get any pleasure from my pain. My refusal to admit my pain clearly angered Zomboss who said through gritted teeth.  
"My little patience with you is running thin, tell me what I want to know or I will kill you." I laughed at the frustrated zombie and said.  
"Then kill me, you will never find it and I will never tell you." Zomboss had a clear look of glee on his face as he picked up the pole and said.  
"I will cherish the moment you stop breathing for good." I growled at the zombie just before he hit me across the head three times. When my senses came back to me, I looked at the zombie and smirked. Unimpressed, Zomboss put down the pole and grabbed a device that looked similar to a bear trap. The zombie laughed as they clamped the device onto my stem. Just before I could ask what the device did, a sharp sensation of pain ran through my stem. I looked down at the device to find blood dripping out of it. Zomboss removed the device and a large chunk of my stem was missing, I nearly panicked at the sight.

Subduing the urge to panic, I tried to formulate a plan to escape the mess I was in but the amount of blood I was starting to lose was weakening my resolve and strength. Before I could think of a proper plan, electricity coursed its way through me. Everything went dark but was quickly flooded with light again. I looked around, Zomboss pulled a needle out of me and said.  
"Tsk, I expected you to be able to take more before passing out. If you pass out though I will just revive you to continue this torture." The zombie gave me a deranged smile before slapping me, I said as menacingly as I could.  
"Do it again and I will break out of here and destroy you." Zomboss simply laughed and slapped me once, twice, three times before picking up a pole with a taser on the end of it.

I yelled in pain every time the taser made contact, I gave up trying to hide my pain since it was getting me nowhere. By the time Zomboss finished tasering me, I was breathing heavily, blood flowing down my stem and face from a multitude of cuts and lacerations. My heartbeat was slow and heavy in my chest, it didn't take a sunflower to know that was a bad sign. Zomboss growled before he said.  
"I'm done. You physicist, hand me my latest invention, I believe that this pest is a worthy test subject." Before the physicist could get the invention, an explosion rocked the room.


	25. Chapter 25: A new invention

As the dust cleared from the gaping hole in the side of the room, it revealed a group of plants, all of which I were happy to see. At the front stood my brother, Jack and Wulf. Behind them stood Alison and Vivian, as well as Peter and Cole, both looked battered but determined. Zomboss growled at the new arrivals and quickly pressed a button that split the room in half. A strong, clear plastic pane divided the room with myself, Zomboss, the physicist and my brother in the same room. Before any of us could react, not that I could do anything if I could, the physicist threw a strange device to Zomboss who laughed evilly and said.  
"Only one charge in it? Well then I guess you will suffer the honour of being my first test subject." Zomboss shot the device at Jack who didn't see the needle traveling towards him and yelped when the needle inserted itself in his stem.

After shooting the device, Zomboss and the physicist left the room and locked the door behind themselves so we couldn't pursue them. The dividing wall returned to the floor while the other plants came in. Wulf untied me while Alison and Vivian had expressions of worry on their faces. My initial thoughts were that they were worried about me, till I looked at my brother, a look of absolute shock on his face. Zomboss spoke over a communications device into the room.  
"That needle was filled with my latest invention. It's like a microscopic zombie horde inside you that slowly eats away all living cells in your miserable bodies."  
With a click the communications device went silent. After exchanging a few uneasy looks with the other plants in the room, a yell of extreme pain pierced the air. We all looked at my brother who was gripping his stem where the needle had stuck itself into him, the spot around where it had been was a dark purple, he was being eaten from the inside out.

No matter what Alison or Vivian tried, they couldn't stop the spread of what was eating Jack. Despite their worry for me, I kept telling them to focus their attention on Jack. A large part of his stem was dark purple now and was getting dangerously close to his chest. Jack yelled out in pain again, I couldn't stand it. My brother was slowly being eaten from the inside and I couldn't do anything but try and keep his hopes up. After two more minutes of agony, my brother used what little strength he had left to grab me and nearly scream.  
"Kill me, please, I can't deal with this anymore." I gave him a shocked expression and said.  
"I-I can't, I won't kill you, we're family." Jack yelled out in pain again, I was going to let my brother suffer because I couldn't kill him. It felt like I was slowly dieing inside. When he finally stopped yelling he said.  
"Do it please, forget i'm your brother if you have to, just do it." He began to yell again. I began to tear up, I couldn't do it so I told him.  
"I can't, especially not after what I promised mum." Jack tried to shoot me before he yelled.  
"DO IT! I CAN'T TAKE THIS FOR MUCH LONGER!" Alison said after him.  
"Pete, you know as well as I that we can't save him, you have to do it or one of us will." I knew she spoke the truth but I didn't want to accept it. Without thinking,  
I grabbed a knife from Wulf's pack and began to do the unthinkable.

I began to cut out the infected part of his stem before it spread too far. I tried to block out the screams of pain my brother issued as I cut a large chunk out of his stem. With the infected part of his stem gone, the next major issue was the bleeding. While I had been bleeding heavily for the past hour, the threat of loosing my brother kept me going. A pool of blood was forming where my brother lay, while Vivian treated to Jack's wounds, Alison came over to me and she said.  
"No getting out of this now, i'm treating those wounds whether you like it or not." I groaned as she began to cover the chunk of stem missing from me. The loss of blood was beginning to take its toll as I said weakly.  
"I'm fine Alison, we need to get out of here though." She sighed before she said.  
"No you aren't and I'm tempted to kill you for not killing your brother after he asked. But since he seems to be stable I guess I can forgive you...for now." She spent the next 3 minutes treating to my serious wounds before helping Vivian carry Jack outside. I followed them with the rest of the plants that were there as we headed towards a carpark where a group of plants were holding out, Crazy Dave's flying RV circled above as he waited for the area to be clear of zombies.

I lacked the energy to hyper towards the skirmish ahead of me so I tried to help by firing into the horde. Despite barely hitting anything, I managed to fell a few buckethead browncoats before the last zombie fell. When we all arrived at the landing zone, it turned out Colin and the other recruits in my brother's team had been holding back the undead horde. While a few of them, especially the Law Pea, Jared, looked like they had the grass beaten out of them, most of them were unscathed.  
Dave landed and let us all cram into his flying RV. Jared, the law pea, Colin, the toxic peashooter, and Bella, the shadow flower, gathered around Alison and Vivian as they treated my brother Jack. Jared was first to ask.  
"So, who's in charge while Jack recovers?" Jack, who was amazingly still conscious said.  
"Colin. Colin is in charge until I recover." I went over to them to see Jared looking at Colin with a look of absolute loathing as he said.  
"So when did we let little pipsqueaks start leading teams?" I looked at Jared and immediately knew why he wasn't picked to lead, he was arrogant and clearly thought of himself highly. I ended up saying to them.  
"You know I was 15 when I began leading a team so be careful about what you say, it could come back and haunt you." Jared looked shocked and said.  
"I-I didn't know, I thought you were as old as the war." I laughed and said.  
"No, you will have to ask Peter and Cole about the entire war considering they've been around that long." A sudden wave of nausea came over me so I decided to return to my seat for the remainder of the trip.


	26. Chapter 26: The last meal

It took 12 minutes to get back to base. I wanted to help Alison and Vivian carry my bother inside to the infirmary but they said I needed to stay in there as well.  
The next day I spent in the infirmary with my brother as Alison and Vivian tried to stop Jack's bleeding and heal the numerous wounds covering my body. It was surprise when Alison asked me.  
"Hey, I was wondering if you felt better and if you did if you wanted to go to lunch with me?" I looked at her with a dumbfounded look, she was really asking if I wanted to go out to lunch with her. I replied by nodding and saying.  
"If you are serious then of course I want to." She smiled and helped me get out of the bed I had been in for over a day now. I grabbed the headpiece that was a gift from my dead mother and put it on. We set out 10 minutes later towards a restaurant that Wulf and Vivian had suggested to us.

The restaurant was a small building that sat near a large garden that appeared to be a popular spot to visit. We walked towards the restaurant but when I saw a sign out the front of the small, overgrown building, I stopped and realised something, I had nothing to pay with. I stopped Alison before she walked in and said.  
"What are we supposed to do? I don't have anything to pay with, we're going to walk in there and get laughed at for being broke." Alison frowned and said.  
"You thought I wasn't going to pay for you as well?" I frowned at her and said.  
"Look Alison, it's your money, don't waste it one me." Instead of getting mad at me like I expected, she smiled and said.  
"What if, maybe I wanted to spend my money on you." I smiled at her and said.  
"I'm going to pay you back, one day." She giggled as we walked through the doors and said.  
"You can pay me back by keeping me company." I smiled at her while an unhappy looking Tall-Nut came over to us and asked.  
"So table of two?" We nodded at him and he led us to a table outside that overlooked the garden next to the restaurant. He gave us two menus before leaving us alone.  
The sun was setting by the time the waiter returned to ask what we were going to have. Alison ordered 2 large soups and a glass of water while I ordered a small appetizer and a glass of water as well. The waiter gave us a confused look before they went to take another tables order.

It only took 10 minutes for us to get the food we ordered. Alison started by eating one of the soups while I ate the appetizer I ordered in 2 minutes. Alison looked up from her food with a small smile when she saw my look of disappointment and said.  
"I knew this would happen." I looked at her with a confused look and said.  
"Hmmm, you knew this would happen?" She giggled again and said.  
"I knew you would order the cheapest thing so I ordered extra so you could actually have a decent meal." I tried to deny it but my stomach rumbled at the worst time so I gave up. I smiled at Alison as she passed me the other bowl of soup and I had it.

When we both finished we headed to the desk at the front and Alison pulled out her wallet. The Sunflower at the desk snorted and said.  
"How un gentle-plant like, making the lady pay are we?" Alison nearly yelled at the sunflower at the desk.  
"No, I am paying out of my own choice, I'm the one that bought him out tonight considering he's been in an infirmary for the past few days." The sunflower looked taken aback while I simply smiled at Alison. Alison payed the $30 bill and we walked out of the restaurant together, both of us with smiles on our faces.

We spent the rest of the evening wandering the large garden next to the restaurant. I was amazed by the vast size of the garden while Alison was amazed at everything.  
The garden appeared to be a popular destination, especially for couples. When the moon was the only light source left, Alison and I headed towards a hill that let us see the entirety of our part of suburbia. On top of the hill stood a tree that seemed so out of place, but seemed to fit in well. The initials of plants had been carved into the tree, most with hearts around them. Alison looked sad at the sight so I grabbed the knife I now always carried and carved into the tree our initials. P.L and A.H. When Alison saw what I had done, she smiled again and asked.  
"P.L?" I laughed and said.  
"My initials, Pete Lathyrus." I pointed to my initials then Alison's and said. "Alison Helianthus, your initials, I think." She giggled, I must have been blushing a dark green. Alison said.  
"I never told you my last name. How did you know?" I shrugged and said.  
"Lucky guess...I guess" She smiled before doing something I didn't expect. Alison tackled me and said.  
"You know, I could lay here next to you for the next year looking at this view." I smiled at her and said.  
"I wouldn't mind it at all." Before I knew what was happening, Alison had pulled me into a hug.

We spent the rest of the night on the hill beneath the tree enjoying the view of the stars and each other's company. When the sun started to rise, we got up and headed back to base. When we got there, Alison's team was waiting for us. Joan the Fire Cactus said.  
"I hope you enjoyed your time together last night, but we have to go, like right now." Before Alison set off after the fire plants who had set off towards Crazy Dave's flying RV, I pulled her into a hug and said.  
"I'm going to miss you, please never forget me because I won't forget you." She returned the hug and said.  
"You aren't going to try and stop me?" I shook my head and said.  
"No, this is important. But don't doubt the chance we will see eachother again." We stopped hugging and Alison ran after the other fire plants in her team. Little did I know how long we would be apart.

 _A/N: Wow, sorry guys but this was the last chapter for this story ;-; I will do an epilogue though to build up to the next story ;)_


	27. Chapter 27: 12 Years (Epilogue)

**_A/N: Something different this time :P. The epilogue is in third person perspective and is 12 years after the events of last chapter :)_**

* * *

 _At a large home in northern suburbia_

* * *

A fire flower named Alison, who wore a pair of crooked, silver Aviator glasses, sat in her lounge on the main couch. She held a phone as it rang, after a few seconds a very feminine voice spoke out.  
"Hello, who are you trying to contact?" The fire flower looked at a photo she hadn't since she first got it, 12 years ago. She said into the phone.  
"Ah, I'm trying to find someone called, Pete Lathyrus." It took a few seconds for a reply that disappointed the fire flower.  
"I'm sorry mam, we have two results and they're both reported as KIA." The fire flower nearly dropped the phone in shock. When she finally replied she said.  
"Thank you for your time." The fire flower put down the phone and broke down in tears. After a few minutes a small Fire Peashooter walked into the room and went over to the Fire Flower and said.  
"It's alright, we will find him." The Fire Pea comforted the crying Fire Flower until she screamed.  
"HE'S DEAD! WHY DIDN'T I SEE IT! HE WOULD HAVE COME LOOKING FOR US AFTER THE WAR ENDED!" The Fire Pea looked shocked and taken aback by Alison's screaming. The Fire Pea left for their room in the large house leaving Alison to cry to herself in the large lounge.

10 minutes later, someone knocked on the door. The Fire Pea was to busy listening to music to notice but Alison did. She rubbed her eyes before getting up to answer the door. When she opened the door, she had an expression of pure shock on her face. Alison began whispering.  
"N-no, it can't be." The fire flower reached out to the injured peashooter in front of her and said. "Pe-Pete, is that you?" The peashooter pulled Alison into a hug and said.  
"Yes. I can't believe it's you." The two plants continued to hug each other for a minute, one of Alison's neighbours, a Plasma Peashooter named Wulf came out and looked at the two. After getting a proper look at the hugging plants, he asked.  
"ALISON! Is that Pete?" The Fire Flower and Peashooter stopped hugging. Alison looked at the Plasma Peashooter standing outside their house and said in a tone of jubilation.  
"Yes." Wulf's expression changed from a questioning one to one of shock. The Plasma Peashooter hypered back inside while Alison and Pete headed inside Alison's house.

The two plants discussed what they had been doing for the past 12 years. Alison discussed how she was now head nurse at a major hospital in norther suburbia while Pete explained how he struggled to find a job and ended up faking his death. After a period of awkward silence that happened after Pete explained his fake death,  
Alison got up and said.  
"Look, Pete, I need to introduce you to someone that I should have 12 years ago." The peashooter who was still sitting on the couch got up and said.  
"Who did you want me to meet?" She smiled at the peashooter that now stood in front of her. Some strange feeling inside the two plants caused them to lean in towards each other. Before either plant knew what was happening, they were kissing each other. The Fire Peashooter that was comforting Alison not long before walked in on the two plants kissing and said.  
"Mum, who is this?" The peashooter and fire flower stopped kissing. Alison was blushing in embarrassment while Pete had a look of shock on his face. Pete was first to break the awkward silence.  
"Mum? Alison, tell me what's going on." Alison looked down and said to the confused peashooter.  
"Pete, I want you to meet your son."


End file.
